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THE    PRIVATE   SOLDIER 
UNDER  WASHINGTON 


THE    PRIVATE    SOLDIER 
UNDER   WASHINGTON 


BY 

CHARLES   KNOWLES   BOLTON 


ILLUSTRATED 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK::::::::::::::::::1902 


.-S 


COPYRIGHT,  1902,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

Published,  September,  1902 


TROW  DIRECTORY 
PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 

NEW   YORK 


TO    MY    WIFE 

iSoiton 


PREFACE 

MUCH  has  been  written  about  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution,  but  our  knowledge  of 
the  private  soldiers  of  the  patriot  army 
is  confined  chie'fly  to  Washington's  description  of 
their  sufferings  at  Valley  Forge.  Their  story  is 
to  be  found  in  a  line  here  and  there  scattered 
through  the  mass  of  contemporary  literature.  In 
sifting  this  material,  it  has  seemed  best  to  give 
in  every  case  the  name  of  the  authority  who  saw 
what  he  described.  No  student,  however,  would 
^willingly  forget  the  labors  of  those  later  writers 
who  have  done  so  much  to  make  easier  the  way 
for  others. 

I  record  with  pleasure  my  obligation  to  Pro 
fessor  Edward  Channing,  of  Harvard  College,  for 
very  many  valuable  suggestions ;  and  also  to  Mr. 
Albert  Matthews,  whose  knowledge  of  the  lan 
guage  and  customs  of  the  period  has  been  of 

great  service  to  me. 

C.  K.  B. 

POUND  HILL,  SHIRLEY, 
MASSACHUSETTS,  July,  1902. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  ARMY     ...  3 

II.  MAINTAINING  THE  FORCES  ....  44 

III.  MATERIAL  NEEDS 73 

IV.  FIRELOCK  AND  POWDER  .....  105 
V.  OFFICER  AND  PRIVATE 125 

VI.  CAMP  DUTIES .   143 

VII.  CAMP  DIVERSIONS 163 

VIII.  HOSPITALS  AND  PRISON-SHIPS  .     .     .177 

IX.  THE  ARMY  IN  MOTION 194 

X.  THE  PRIVATE  HIMSELF 219 

INDEX 249 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


How    the   news   was    carried.      An    express    from    New 

England 16 

From  the  Gerard  Bancker  collection  of  broadsides. 

Punishment  of  a  soldier 20 

Page  from  Washington's  order  book,  July  3,  1775. 

An  enlistment  blank  of  the    Massachusetts  Bay  Colony, 
1776 

An  enlistment  blank  of  1776 30 

A    very   rare    broadside,    inviting    enlistment    under    Paul 

Jones,  1777 46 

Original  owned  by  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem. 

Resolution  of  Congress  to  enlist  88  battalions    ....      48 
Orders  relating  to  private  soldiers 50 

Page  from  Washington's  order  book,  Nov.  9,  1776. 

Paper  currency,  1776,  1778 60 

Enlistment  broadside 66 

Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

Facsimile    (reduced)    of  a   call  for  grain  for  the  army  at 

Valley  Forge 84 

Original  owned  by  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

[xi] 


Illustrations 


Call  for  food  and  blankets,  June  i  8,  1775 

Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

Handbill  sent  among  the  British  troops  on  Bunker  Hill      90 
Original  owned  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

Call  for  coats,  showing  a  sample  of  the  fawn-colored  felt 
cloth  desired.  These  broadsides  are  rarely  found  with 
the  cloth  still  attached 96 

Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

Flint-lock    guns,    wooden    canteen,    and    welded    bayonet 
which  were  used  by  privates  during  the   Revolution. 
The  barrel  of  the  lower  gun  has  been  shortened      .      .106 
Originals  owned  by  James  E.  Kelly. 

Plate  taken  from  "  Regulations  for  the  order  and  Discipline 
of  the  troops  of  the  United  States"  by  Baron  de 
Steuben no 

Musket,  powder-horn,  bullet  flask,  and  buck-shot  pouch 
carried  in  the  Revolution 

Lent  to  the  Bostonian  Society  by  George  B.  Dexter,  Esq. 

Dram  carried  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill    .      .      .      .120 

Probably  a  Massachusetts  flag  ;  after  an  old  print.  The 
flag  of  Massachusetts  ;  a  white  ground  with  a  pine 
tree  in  the  centre.  Flag  carried  by  the  Bedford  mil 
itia  company  at  Concord  bridge.  Flag  carried  by  the 
American  army  through  the  South  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Revolution.  First  naval  flag  ;  a  yellow  flag 
with  a  rattlesnake  in  the  act  of  striking  .  .  .  .140 
[xii] 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

Hunting  shirt  (made  from  a  model  of  the  Revolutionary 
period)  of  home-spun  linen 

Vest  made  from  a  model  of  that  period  showing  lacing 

in  back  instead  of  a  buckle 160 

Originals  owned  by  James  E.  Kelly. 

Company  receipt  for  pay  showing  the  ability  of  the  private 

to  write 168 

Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

Receipt  signed  by  the  Ipswich  minute  men  who  marched 

on  the  alarm  of  April  19,  1775 172 

Original  in  the  Emmet  collection  in  the  Lenox  Library,  New 
York. 

Surgeon's  saw  used  by  Dr.  David  Jones,  who  had  been  a 
student  under  Dr.  Joseph  Warren 

Teeth  extractors 

Owned  by  the  Bostonian  Society. 

Flask 

Owned  by  Mrs.  R.  W.  Redman. 
Revolutionary  bullet  moulds 178 

Celebration  of  New  Year's  Day 236 

Page  from  Washington's  order  book,  Jan.  I,  1778. 

Gray  cartridge  paper  with  cartridges  and  ball,  found  in  the 
attic  of  the  church  at  Shirley  Centre,  Mass.,  by  J.  E. 
L.  Hazen  ;  also  bullet  mould  and  melting  pot .  .  .  242 


The    Private    Soldier    Under 
Washington 


The  Origin  of  the  Army 

WHEN  the  colonists  in  America  rose  in 
rebellion  against  the  English  Govern 
ment  in  1775,  they  occupied  scarcely 
more  territory  than  had  been  won  from  the  wil 
derness  a  century  earlier.  Pioneers  from  the 
shores  of  the  North  Sea  had  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  make  for  themselves  homes ;  the  more  vent 
uresome  had  forced  their  way  to  the  head-waters 
of  the  coast  rivers  to  build  block-houses  for  trade 
and  defence.  Little  by  little  they  and  their  de 
scendants  cut  away  the  timber  along  the  banks  of 
many  pleasant  streams  and  planted  grain.  And 
now,  at  the  southward,  their  lands  reached  from 
the  ocean  to  the  Appalachian  range — the  water 
shed  of  the  Potomac,  the  James,  the  Roanoke, 
the  Santee,  the  Savannah  and  the  Altamaha 
rivers.  Farther  north  they  cleared  and  tilled  the 
country  which  is  drained  by  the  Susquehanna, 
the  Hudson,  the  Connecticut,  the  Kennebec,  and 
the  Penobscot. 

[  3  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Here  was  a  theatre  of  war  with  great  possibili 
ties  for  the  strategist  who  knew  the  topography 
thoroughly,  and  could  marshal  the  rivers  and  hills 
like  forces  in  reserve  to  checkmate  his  antagonist. 
Throughout  Washington's  campaigns  near  New 
York  the  Hudson  River  on  the  east  and  the  Dela 
ware  on  the  west  served  to  keep  the  British  in 
check.  The  manoeuvres  of  Gates  and  Greene  in 
the  Carolinas  were  everywhere  influenced  by  the 
broad  streams  that  cross  the  country.  But  rivers 
were  dangerous  allies,  and  when  made  part  of  a 
great  plan  might,  by  the  fortunes  of  war,  prove 
ruinous  to  an  army.  In  the  campaign  of  1777 
Burgoyne  was  to  gain  control  of  the  Hudson  in 
order  to  separate  the  men  of  New  England  from 
their  brothers  in  rebellion ;  but  he  accepted  a  po 
sition  within  the  bend  of  the  river  at  Saratoga 
and  was  compelled  to  surrender.  In  the  expedi 
tion  of  Cornwallis  in  1781  the  converging  streams 
of  the  York  and  the  James,  which  were  to  pro 
tect  his  army,  held  him  like  a  trap  as  soon  as  the 
French  allies  came  into  possession  of  the  sea. 

The  political  divisions  show  that  England  laid 
claim  to  the  eastern  part  of  America,  with  the 
exception  of  Florida.  Massachusetts  still  in 
cluded  the  territory  between  the  western  part  of 
Nova  Scotia,  now  called  New  Brunswick,  and 
[  4] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


New  Hampshire,  later  known  as  Maine ;  and  the 
land  between  the  Connecticut  River  and  Lake 
Champlain,  afterward  the  State  of  Vermont,  was 
at  this  time  within  the  bounds  of  New  York. 
The  rich  country  between  the  upper  Mississippi 
and  its  tributary  the  Ohio  had  but  recently  been 
added  to  the  Government  of  Quebec.  There 
were  few  English  inhabitants  in  this  region,  and 
the  French  stockades  and  trading  villages,  such 
as  Detroit,  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash,  and  Kas- 
kaskia,  were  important  only  as  settlements  along 
the  water  highway  from  Canada  and  the  Great 
Lakes  to  New  Orleans.  The  southern  English 
colonies  already  looked  westward  to  the  Missis 
sippi  for  their  expansion. 

Beyond  all  this  region  lay  the  untouched  for 
ests  which  gathered  rains  for  the  far-reaching 
waters  of  the  Rio  Grande,  the  Colorado,  the 
Arkansas,  and  the  Missouri — the  possessions  of 
Spain. 

The  English  colonies  in  1775  had  a  popula 
tion  of  two  and  a  half  million  people,  less  than  a 
third  the  number  then  in  Great  Britain  and  Ire 
land.  Moreover,  above  half  a  million  of  these 
people  were  negroes,  barred  very  generally  from 
military  service  ;  many  others  refused  from  their 
religious  views  to  bear  arms ;  and  a  considerable 
[  5  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

minority  of  the  citizens — more  than  a  third  of  the 
men  of  influence,  said  Adams — opposed  an  ap 
peal  to  force.  It  was  fortunate  for  America  that 
the  war  began  in  New  England,  which  had  few 
Tories  and  slaves,  and  was  able,  by  furnishing  a 
large  part  of  the  patriot  army,  to  show  a  strong 
front  to  the  enemy. 

Earlier  in  the  century  there  had  been  little  to 
draw  together  the  various  races  then  settled  upon 
the  continent,  isolated  as  they  were  by  religious 
differences,  social  distinctions,  and  the  imperfect 
means  of  travel.  But  a  steady  policy  of  irritation 
and  repression  on  the  part  of  the  English  Govern 
ment  quickened  the  sympathies  of  the  people, 
and  led  to  the  perfection  of  intercommunica 
tion  and  to  the  dissemination  of  political  ideas. 
The  arbitrary  restriction  of  trade  and  abrogation 
of  privileges  by  an  unseen  power  3,000  miles 
away  aroused  the  colonies  to  a  sense  of  their 
common  danger. 

The  presence  of  an  English  garrison  at  Boston, 
and  the  enforcement  of  acts  designed  by  Parlia 
ment  to  crush  out  the  revolutionary  spirit  in 
Massachusetts,  made  the  colony  a  centre  of  the 
coming  storm.  The  members  of  a  convention  of 
delegates  from  the  towns  and  districts  in  Suffolk 
County,  meeting  in  September,  1774,  declared  in 
[  6] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


language  vigorous,  if  a  little  florid,  that  to  arrest 
the  hand  about  to  ransack  their  pockets,  to  dis 
arm  the  parricide  who  stood  with  a  dagger  at 
their  bosoms,  and  to  resist  the  usurpation  of  un 
constitutional  power*  would  roll  their  reputation 
upon  a  "  torrent  of  panegyric  "  to  the  abyss  of 
eternity.1  With  their  future  fame  secured,  they 
set  about  frankly  to  prepare  for  the  conflict,  call 
ing  upon  the  people  to  elect  their  militia  offi 
cers,  and  acquaint  themselves  with  the  art  of  war, 
that  King  George  might  not  make  an  easy  prey 
of  "  a  numerous,  brave,  and  hardy  people." 2 
The  action  taken  by  several  of  the  towns  about 
Boston  was  if  possible  more  marked.  Brookline, 
for  example,  appointed  a  committee  in  Septem 
ber  to  examine  into  the  state  of  the  town  as  to  its 
military  preparation  for  war  "  in  case  of  a  suden 
attack  from  our  enemies."  3 

On  October  26,  1774,  the  Provincial  Congress, 
sitting  at  Cambridge,  chose  a  committee  of 
safety  with  power  to  collect  military  stores,  and, 
if  necessary,  to  summon  and  support  the  militia. 
With  the  delegation  of  this  authority  to  a  specific 

1  Journals  of  each  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  (Lin 
coln),  pp.  60 1,  602. 
2 Ibid. ,  pp.  603,  604. 
3  Muddy  River  Records,  p.  248. 

[  7  1 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

body  of  leaders,  the  opposition  to  Great  Britain 
ceased  to  be  wholly  legislative,  for  the  committee 
had  the  necessary  power  to  maintain  armed  re 
bellion.  The  military  measures  of  this  period, 
proposed  in  convention  and  carried  by  vote,  in 
time  of  peace  and  within  three  or  four  miles  of 
the  British  garrison,  were  a  test  of  New  England 
courage  and  determination  that  deserve  recogni 
tion. 

At  the  same  time  a  plan  of  organization  for 
the  militia  was  outlined.  Field  officers  were 
ordered  to  enlist,  if  possible,  a  quarter  of  the 
total  number  of  militiamen  for  emergency  service 
under  the  direction  of  the  committee  of  safety; 
these  companies  were  to  consist  of  at  least  fifty 
minute-men  each,  and  were  to  elect  their  own 
company  officers.1  Twenty  years  earlier,  alarm- 
list  companies  had  been  organized  to  repel  the 
Indians ;  they  may  be  considered  as  survivals  of  the 
regiments  that  were  in  King  Philip's  time  ordered 
to  be  ready  to  march  at  a  moment's  warning ;  and 
these  in  turn  can  be  traced  to  the  companies 

1  Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  p.  33.  The 
Continental  Congress  recommended  to  the  Colonies,  July  18, 
1775,  to  form  similar  companies  of  minute-men.  The  term 
minute-men  appears  September  21,  1774,  m  ^e  J°urnal  of 
the  Worcester  County  Convention.  (Journals  Provincial  Con 
gress,  pp.  643,  644.) 

[  8] 


"The   Origin  of  the  Army 


of  thirty  men  from  each  hundred  of  the  militia 
which  in  1645  were  to  be  prepared  "at  halfe  an 
howers  warning."  Thus  had  the  training  in  arms 
and  in  preparation  against  surprise  and  attack 
been  handed  down  from  the  days  of  Myles  Stan- 
dish  and  Simon  Willard.1  The  committee  on 
the  state  of  the  province  drew  up,  December  10, 

1774,  an  address  to  the  people  which  urged  the 
towns  and  districts  to  pay  their  local  militia  for 
their  services,  in  order  to  encourage  them  "  to  ob 
tain  the  skill  of  complete  soldiers." 

These  preparations  were  well  known  in  Boston, 
and  Lord  Percy,  who  was  for  a  time  in  command 
of  the  British  troops  there,  referred  often  to  them 
in  letters  to  his  father ;  as  early  as  September  12th 
he  said  that  the  rebels  "  did  not  make  a  despica 
ble  appearance  as  soldiers."2  He  knew  that 
training-day  had  ceased  to  be  a  perfunctory  cere 
mony. 

The  Provincial  Congress  resolved,  on  April  8, 

1 775,  that  an  army  should  be  raised  and  estab 
lished,  and  other  New  England  colonies  should 
be  asked  to  furnish  their  quotas  of  men  for  the 
general  defence.     The  records  of  the  committees 
of  safety  and  supplies  show  that  various   stores 

Green's  Groton  during  the  Revolution,  p.  3. 

2  Percy  to  his  father,  September  12,  1774;   MS.  at  Alnwick. 

[9] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

were  being  collected  at  this  time,  such  as  spades, 
pick-axes  and  bill-hooks,  iron  pots  and  wooden 
mess-bowls,  carpenters'  tools,  cartridge  -  paper, 
powder  and  fuses,  grape  and  round  shot,  bombs, 
mortars,  musket-balls  and  flints,  molasses,  salt 
fish,  raisins,  oatmeal,  and  flour.1  From  the  8th 
of  March  to  the  14th  of  April,  1775,  sundry 
persons  under  the  direction  of  John  Goddard 
were  carting  through  the  quiet  country  roads  that 
lead  to  Concord  casks  of  balls,  barrels  of  linen, 
hogsheads  of  flints,  loads  of  beef  and  rice,  quan 
tities  of  canteens  and  other  articles.2 

To  seize  these  stores,  so  specifically  enumerated 
in  the  old  thong-bound  account-book  of  wagon- 
master  Goddard,  Lieutenant  -  Colonel  Francis 
Smith,8  with  the  flank  companies  of  the  Tenth 
Regiment  of  foot  and  of  several  other  corps,  em 
barked  from  Boston  Common  at  about  half-past 
ten  o'clock  Tuesday  night,  the  i8th  of  April,4 
crossed  the  Charles  River,  and  began  the  march 

journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  p.  505  et  seq. 
Records  Committee  of  Safety. 

2 Goddard' s  Account  Book;  MS.  in  Brookline  Public  Li 
brary.  Reprinted  in  part  in  Brookline  Historical  Publication 
Society,  Publication  No.  15. 

3  Cannon's  Historical  Record  of  the  Tenth  Regiment,  p.  36. 

4  Gage's  account  in  Journals   Provincial   Congress  of  Massa 
chusetts  (Lincoln),  p.  679. 

[  10] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


which  was  to  bring  on  the  American  Revolution. 
He  met  and  dispersed  the  forewarned  minute-men 
on  Lexington  Green  at  five  o'clock  of  the  morn 
ing  of  the  igth  of  April ;  he  marched  on  to  Con 
cord,  destroyed  the  stores,  and  commenced  the 
return ;  at  half-past  two  his  men,  thoroughly  ex 
hausted  from  their  rapid  march  back  toward  Lex 
ington,  lay  down  within  the  hollow  square  formed 
by  reinforcements  which  Lord  Percy  had  led  out 
from  Boston. 

The  retreat  of  the  regulars  along  the  country 
road  has  often  been  pictured  in  words ;  the  red 
coats  were  harassed  by  the  farmers  who  (to  use 
Percy's  own  phrase)  surrounded  and  followed 
them  like  a  moving  circle,1  firing  from  trees  and 
stone  walls.  A  British  soldier,  apparently  in 
"  Chatham's  division  of  marines,"  had  his  hat  shot 
off  his  head  three  times,  lost  his  bayonet  by  a 
ball,  and  had  two  holes  in  his  coat,2  as  he  pushed 
on  to  Charlestown.  Colonel  Smith's  men  from 
the  Tenth  Regiment  wore  at  this  period  three- 
cornered  cocked  hats  bound  with  white  lace ; 
scarlet  coats  faced  and  turned  up  with  bright  yel- 

1  Percy  to  General  Harvey,  April  20,  1775;  MS.  at  Aln- 
wick. 

2 Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  (Lincoln), 
p.  683. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

low,  and  ornamented  with  white  lace ;  scarlet 
waistcoats  and  breeches  ;  white  linen  gaiters  reach 
ing  above  the  knee ;  white  cravats,  and  buff 
belts.1  They  were  brave  men  of  many  battle 
fields,  and  their  discomfiture  was  a  sight  to  stir 
the  blood  of  every  man  in  homespun  who  reached 
the  scene.  Each  town  has  its  story  of  that  mus 
ter-morning,  of  the  minute-man  who  left  his 
plough  in  the  furrow,  the  bucket  at  the  well- 
sweep,  or  the  fodder  at  the  door  of  the  cattle- 
shed.  In  some  towns  not  above  half  a  dozen 
able-bodied  men  remained  at  home  through  the 
igth  of  April,  and  the  killed,  wounded,  or  missing 
were  credited  to  twenty-three  different  towns  and 
villages.2 

The  British  reached  Bunker  Hill,  across  the 
narrow  neck  which  joins  Charlestown  to  the  main 
land,  as  the  dusk  began  to  make  visible  the  flash 
of  the  muskets.  Their  pursuers  halted  while  the 
militia  officers  held  a  consultation  at  the  foot  of 
Prospect  Hill ;  a  guard  was  formed,  sentinels 
were  posted  as  far  as  the  approach  to  the  Neck, 
and  patrols  were  sent  out  to  watch  the  enemy. 
The  militia  then  withdrew  to  Cambridge.  An 
other  guard  went  to  the  Brookline  and  Roxbury 

1  R.  Cannon's  Historical  Record,  p.  35. 

2Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  p.  678. 

[    12    ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


shores,  south  of  Boston,  to  cover  that  territory 
until  morning.  On  the  2oth  Cambridge  was 
searched  for  beef,  pork,  and  cooking  utensils, 
while  Roxbury  furnished  a  good  supply  of  ship- 
bread  for  the  hungry  men.  Before  noon  the 
committee  of  supplies  in  Concord  had  sent  word 
that  they  were  using  every  effort  to  forward  pro 
visions.  Thus  were  the  first  difficulties  overcome, 
and  an  armed  force  began  the  siege  of  Boston.1 

The  men  who  encamped  about  Boston  had 
fought  with  perseverance  and  resolution ; 2  they 
were  not  raw  recruits,  for  many  had  contended 
in  the  wars  with  French  and  Indians,  and  their 
names  may  still  be  seen  on  the  King's  muster- 
rolls.3  They  were  not  a  rabble  recruited  from 
the  low  ranks  from  which  a  city  mob  is  drawn. 
College  and  professional  men  did  their  part.  The 
death  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who  was  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  and  held  his  commission  under  the 
Crown,  caused  a  heated  discussion  in  the  British 
press ;  some  said  that  he  was  a  spectator,  for  they 
could  not  believe  that  the  movement  was  respect 
able  in  the  character  of  its  supporters.4  General 

1  Heath's  Memoirs  (1798),  pp.  14-16. 

2  Lord  Percy's  letter,  supra. 

3  Massachusetts  Archives,  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  Rolls. 

4  Gazetteer  and  New  Daily  Advertiser,  July  4,  1775. 

[  13  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Howe,  writing  to  Lord  Dartmouth  a  few  months 
later,  stated  half  the  truth  when  he  said  that  the 
Continental  army  contained  many  European  sol 
diers  and  most  of  the  young  men  of  spirit  in  the 
country,  who  gave  diligent  attention  to  the  mili 
tary  profession.1  Lord  Percy  had  held  that  the 
Americans  were  "  a  set  of  sly,  artful,  hypocritical 
rascals,  cruel,  and  cowards,"  2  but  after  the  battle 
of  Lexington  he  declared  that  the  rebels  showed 
an  enthusiasm  and  a  courage  to  meet  death  that 
promised  an  insurrection  not  so  despicable  as  was 
imagined  in  England.  Percy  was  quick  to  see 
that  the  Indian  method  of  lighting  from  behind 
trees  and  stone  walls  was  proof  not  of  cowardice, 
but  of  ability  to  profit  by  conditions;  and,  said 
he,  "  they  know  very  well  what  they  are  about."  J 
Soon  after  the  events  of  the  igth,  men  in 
the  companies  encamped  near  Boston  were 
asked  by  the  committee  of  safety  to  enlist  for 
service  until  the  end  of  the  year,  or  for  a  shorter 
period  at  the  committee's  discretion.4  A  vigor- 

1  Howe's  letter,  January  16,   1776,  quoted  in  Washington's 
Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  353. 

2  Lord   Percy    to  H.    Reveley,   August    8,    1774;    MS.   at 
Alnwick. 

3  Lord  Percy  to  Harvey,  April  20,  1775. 

4  For  the  oath  see  Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachu 
setts  (Lincoln),  p.  201. 

[  H] 


Origin  of  the  Army 


ous  circular  letter,  dated  April  2oth,  was  sent  to 
the  neighboring  towns  urging  the  enlistment  of 
an  army  to  defend  wives  and  children  "  from  the 
butchering  hands  of  an  inhuman  soldiery  " ;  and 
on  the  2 1st  the  committee  decided  to  raise  an 
army  of  8,000  effective  men  out  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  forces.1  In  the  meantime  the  Provin 
cial  Congress  had  been  hastily  summoned,  and 
had  resolved,  April  23,  1775,  to  raise  13,600 
men.  Proposals  were  also  made  "  to  the  congress 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  governments  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut  colonies  "  for  furnishing 
men  in  the  same  proportion,  as  an  army  of  30,- 
ooo  was  deemed  necessary.  A  month  later 
24,500  men  had  been  collected  in  the  several 
colonies. 

So  thoroughly  had  the  work  of  organization 
gone  on  in  the  colonies  during  1773,  1774,  and 
the  spring  of  1775,  that  an  appeal  for  men 
when  the  siege  of  Boston  began  was  immediately 
successful.  Throughout  the  country  a  network 
of  local  committees,  controlling  militia  compa- 

1  Records  Committee  of  Safety.  Journals  Provincial  Con 
gress  (Lincoln),  pp.  518—523.  Each  company  was  to  have  a 
captain,  lieutenant,  ensign,  four  sergeants,  a  fifer,  drummer  and 
fifty  men  ;  nine  companies  to  form  a  regiment.  The  men  were 
promised  good  officers. 

[  15] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

rues  and  post-riders,  bound  together  the  opposition 
to  the  King ;  this  network  was  like  a  fuse  which 
ran  over  thousands  of  miles  of  wood,  meadow, 
and  farm-land.  The  people  had  been  able  to 
follow  every  movement  of  the  hostile  British 
Parliament  through  the  aid  of  the  committees  of 
correspondence  and  inquiry.  These  committees, 
formed  in  each  colony  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  in  March,  1773,1 
watched  the  approaching  storm,  tested  the  loyalty 
of  those  who  professed  to  welcome  it,  and  guided 
the  popular  indignation. 

When  the  battle  of  Lexington  came,  the  col 
onies  were  as  well  prepared  for  war  as  the  poor 
dependencies  of  a  powerful  nation  could  be. 
The  first  news  of  the  battle  was  brought  to  the  ears 
of  Putnam  at  Pomfret  the  next  day,  and  to  Arnold 
at  New  Haven  a  day  later ; 2  John  Stark  in  New 
Hampshire  heard  it  in  good  time.  At  ten  o'clock 
on  Wednesday  morning,  the  igth,  Palmer,  of  the 
Massachusetts  committee  of  safety,  wrote  a  letter 
from  Watertown  to  alarm  the  country  "  quite  to 
Connecticut,"  entrusting  it  to  a  rider  who  was  to 
ask  for  fresh  horses  as  he  went.  At  Fairfield, 
Connecticut,  this  message  was  overtaken  by  one 

1  Calendar  of  Virginia  State  Papers,  vol.  8. 

8Stiles's  Diary,  vol.  I,  p.  540  ;  Durfee's  Fitch  (1843),  p.  8. 

[  16  ] 


NEW-YORK,  Tuefday,  April  2 f,  177;. 

This  Day,   about  Noon,  arrived   a  fccond   EXPRESS   from 
New-England,   with  the  following  important  Advices. 


\Vallingford,  Monday,  April  24,  1775. 
DtA*  SIR, 

COLONEL  WADSWORTH  waeowr 
it)  thit  pUce,  in  >il  of  y^ltor day ,  and  h.n 
ordered  20  men  oat  of  each  c<  mpany  in  hit 
regiment,  fame  of  which  had  already  fet  off, 
and  other*  go  thi*  morning.  He  bring*  ac- 
counti  which  cttne  to  h'ltn  authenticated 
from  Thurfday  in  the  "afternoon.  The 
King'*  troop*  being  reinlorced,  a  fecond 
time,  and  joinid,  M  I  fuppofe,  frcto  what  I 
cdn  learn,  by  the  parry  who  were  intercepted 
by  Col.  Gardner,  were  then  encamped  on 
Winter  Hill,  and  were  furronnded  by 
•jo.ooool  our  men,  who  wrre  entrenching. 
—  Colonel  Gardner's  anibufh  proved  fatal  to 
Lord  Percy,  and  another  GeneraJ  Officer, 
who  v?ere  killed  ori  the  fpot.  the  firft  fire  — 
To  counterbalance  thii  good  new*,  the  flo- 
i  y  it,  that  out  ftrft  man  in  command,  (who 
hr  it  I  know  not)  it  alfo  kil.ed  —  hleemt 
they  !i  tve  loll  many  men  on  both  fide*  — 
Colobtt  Wadfwonh  bad  the  account  a 
Jcitrrfroni  Harilord^ — The  cooniry  beyond 
tocre  3'e  all  gone,  and  we  expert  it  will  be 
importable  to  procure  horfei  lor  oor  wag 
gon/,  a*  they  have,  and  will,  in  every  place 
employ,  themfelvci,  all  their  horfes  — lo 
thit  pNce  they  find  an  horfe  tor  every  <rb 
man,  and  are  preJmg  them  for  that  pur- 
pofe  —1  know  of  no  way  but  you  rauft  ira* 
mediately  fend  a  couple  of  flout  able  horfn, 
who  may  overtake  u*  at  Hertford  poffibly  ; 
where  we  mud  return  Mr*.  Noyct'l.  and 
Meloy'i.  it  be  hold*  out  fo  far  —Remember 
the  horfe*  muft  be  had  at  any  rate  —I  am 
in  the  greaieft  hafte,  your  entire  friend  and 
humble  fcrrant. 

JAMES  LOCKWOODt 

N.  B.  Col.  Gardner  took  9  prifoner*.  ind 
It  clubbed  their  firelock*  and  came  over  to 
•ur  party.  Col.  Gardaer'*  party  confifted 


of  700.  and  the  regular*  i8o'o.  indead  of 
laooa*  we  heard  before  ;  ib<y  ba»e  f«nt  a 
Tifiel  up  Myftick  River  a*  far  a*  Tempi* '• 
Farm,  which  it  aboiit  haff  a  mle  f.orc  Win 
ter  Hill.  Thrfe  account*  being  rrur.  ati 
tbe  King'*  force*,  except  4  or  foo,  rauft  be 
incjuipcd  OB  Wmte'  IlilV 

At  tbe  infUnce  nf  the  gentlemen  of  Fair- 
field,  juft  departed  from  bcnce,  thit  11  co 
verbatim  from  the  original,  to  beToi  war 
to  that  towa.  Ifaat  6nr,. 

Pier  foal  Ed-ajardi. 

New-Haven,    April  34,  7 
half  paft  9  Foreaoon.    > 

The  abort  copy,  eaon«  antlientJcaterf, 
from  the  leveral  town*  through  which  it 
pall  d,  by  the  following  gent'enaeo,  viz. 

r'ji'frJd.  24'h  April,  3  o'clock  afternoon, 
Thaddeu*  Burr.  Andrew  Rowland.  Elijah 
Ab<U 

Norwalk  J4»h  April.  7  o'clock  afternoon. 
John  Cainon,  Tbaddcu*  Ben*.  S/mucI 
Graman,  committee. 

Stamford,  34?h  April,  15.  o'clock  even- 
IOR.  John  Hait  j^n.  8»mu«l  Haitotn 
Davi3  Webb,  Dani«i  Gray.  Jonathan  War. 
ing,  jun. 

Greenwich,  April  7f.  jo'dotlc  morning. 
Amoi  Mead. 

The  above  gent Jemtn  write,  that  in  each 
town,  the;  fh.iU  h  ,U  ibemfetve*  m  renti&ttt 
to  oiireh  more  men  immediately,  if  wanted, 
tod  rttjacft  th«irbr«ib/en  in  the  V/cnerr> 
town*  afcd  governme.i'ii  to  do  the  Time,  anJ 
that  all. material  intelligence,  (halt  bs  for 
warded  wnh  fpted. 

Some  aecounticnrr.tion.  ihatthe  foUiery 
had  been  guiiiy  of  fame  ftocklng  harbari- 
tie*,  ID  w«ntonly  biunmg  houfw  and  mur 
dering  old  men.  women  and  children,  but 
of  ihefr,  we  (hall  not  mention  particular*,  till 
the  arrival  of  more  ceitain  and  citcom- 
fltntial  account*. 


Printed  from  the  atcefted  Original,  by  JOHN  HOLT, 


How  the  news  was  carried.     An  express  from  New  England. 

(From  the  Gerard  Bancker  collection  of  broadsides.) 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


written  at  three  o'clock  Thursday  morning,  and 
attested  by  the  committee  of  correspondence 
from  town  to  town.  The  news  reached  New 
York  on  Sunday,  the  2gd,  at  noon,  and  confirmed 
the  rumors  that  had  already  begun  to  circulate ; 
by  four  o'clock  a  messenger  was  on  his  way  to 
Philadelphia.  About  two  o'clock  of  the  2jth 
a  second  express  from  New  England  reached 
New  York,  his  papers  having  been  attested  at 
New  Haven,  Fairfield,  Norwalk,  Stamford,  and 
Greenwich.  The  same  evening  a  copy  reached 
Elizabethtown ;  at  ten  it  was  in  Woodbridge  and 
signed ;  at  midnight  it  had  reached  New  Bruns 
wick  across  the  Raritan  and  half  way  through 
New  Jersey ;  three  hours  and  a  half  brought  the 
good  horse  and  its  rider  to  Princeton ;  at  half- 
past  six  they  were  in  Trenton,  and  by  seven  the 
attested  papers  were  on  their  way  to  Philadel 
phia.  The  committee  of  the  city  sent  the  news 
at  midday  to  Chester ;  at  nine  the  man  drew  up 
at  Newcastle,  having  followed  the  Delaware 
through  the  gathering  darkness;  he  reached 
Christeen  Bridge  at  midnight  with  orders  to  for 
ward  the  papers  day  and  night ;  at  half-past  four, 
in  the  gray  of  the  morning  of  April  2yth,  he  was 
at  the  Head  of  Elk  in  Maryland,  and  after  travel 
ling  seventeen  hours,  touching  Charlestown  on  the 
[  17] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

way,  he  reached  Baltimore  at  ten  that  night.  A 
hard  ride  along  the  tortuous  shore  of  Chesapeake 
Bay  through  the  entire  night  brought  the  news 
to  Annapolis,  where  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  Tilgh- 
man,  and  other  patriots  attested  the  papers  and 
spread  the  tidings. 

Still  on,  through  Alexandria  and  Dumfries,  a 
long  Sunday  journey  brought  the  papers  to  Fred- 
ericksburg,  where  the  committee  signed  at  half- 
past  four.  Carter  Braxton  met  the  messenger  at 
King  William  on  May  1st,  nearly  a  fortnight 
after  the  battle.  To  the  southward  went  the 
news,  through  Surry  County,  Williamsburg, 
SmitMeld  (May  3d),  Nansemond,  Chowan  in 
North  Carolina,  Edenton,  Beaufort  County,  Bath, 
Newbern  (May  6th),  to  Onslow  County,  where 
the  committee  received  it  at  ten  o'clock  Sunday 
morning  of  the  yth.  At  Wilmington  on  Cape 
Fear  River,  Harnett,  of  the  committee,  wrote, 
"  For  God's  sake  send  the  man  on  without  the 
least  delay,"  and  so  the  news  was  borne  to  the 
committees  of  Little  River  and  Georgetown,  and 
on  to  Charleston  in  South  Carolina. 

What  a  ride  and  for  what  a  cause  !  Through 
rain  and  sun  and  starlight  this  firebrand  of  rebel 
lion  was  carried.  This  was  a  ride  that  made  the 
colonies  into  a  nation,  and  the  nameless  mes- 
[  18  ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


sengers  and  their  horses  deserve  a  page  in  his 
tory.1 

The  Continental  Congress  resolved  on  June 
14th  that  six  companies  of  expert  riflemen  be 
immediately  raised  in  Pennsylvania,  two  in  Mary 
land,  and  two  in  Virginia  to  reenforce  the  army 
near  Boston;  each  company  was  to  consist  of  a 
captain,  three  lieutenants,  four  sergeants,  four  cor 
porals,  a  drummer  or  trumpeter,  and  sixty-eight 
privates.2  The  besieging  army  was  temporarily 
under  the  command  of  General  Artemas  Ward 
who  received  his  commission  from  Massachusetts 
as  commander-in-chief  on  May  2oth.  Four  days 
earlier,  however,  the  Provincial  Congress  had  sent 
Dr.  Church  to  Philadelphia  to  offer  the  direction 
of  the  army  to  the  Continental  Congress.  On 
June  15th  George  Washington  was  appointed 
"  to  command  all  the  Continental  forces " ;  on 
July  4,  1775,  it  was  announced  in  general  orders 
that  the  "troops  of  the  United  Provinces  of  North 
America "  were  taken  over  by  Congress.  The 
army  then  numbered  not  more  than  14,500  men,3 

American  Archives  IV.,  vol.  2,  col.  363;  and  in  North 
Carolina  Colonial  Records,  vol.  9,  p.  1229. 

2  June  22d  two  more  companies  were  ordered  to  be  raised  in 
Pennsylvania. 

3  Washington  to   Congress,   July    9,    1775.     Journals    Pro 
vincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  p.  482. 

[  19  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

including  perhaps  the  newly  organized  train  of 
artillery  which  had  been  authorized  in  April  by 
the  province.1  There  existed  also  a  coastguard 
which  had  been  raised  to  defend  the  sea-board 
towns  upon  which  the  British  made  depredations 
in  their  excursions  after  food.2 

The  army  had  scarcely  settled  down  to  besiege 
Boston  before  the  presence  of  slaves  and  free  ne 
groes  gave  rise  to  the  question  of  their  status  in 
the  army.  They  had  not,  apparently,  been  in 
cluded  in  the  companies  of  militiamen  and  min 
ute-men  which  were  organized  and  drilled  in  the 
winter  of  1774-75;  but  the  moment  a  call  for 
men  went  out,  the  black  men  presented  them 
selves  for  service.  In  May  the  committee  of 
safety  faced  the  matter  frankly  in  a  resolve  which 
is  ethically  curious  for  its  differentiation  of  prin 
ciples  when  applied  to  freemen  and  to  slaves. 
This  resolve  read  : 

"  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  as  the  con 
test  now  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies  respects 

1  Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  p.  220,  and 
Journals  Continental  Congress,  July  29,  1775. 

'-'  These  men  were  to  furnish  good  firelocks  and  were  to  receive 
powder  from  the  towns  in  which  they  were  stationed,  the  pow 
der  to  be  paid  for  by  the  colony.  They  were  to  serve  through 
December,  1775,  and  to  receive  $36  a  month  and  subsistence. 
— Journals,  pp.  402,  412,  426. 

[    20    ] 


(•/ 1  ~~  ^ 


1-fi, 


Punishment  of  a   soldier. 

Page  from  Washington's  order  book,  July  3,  1775. 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


the  liberties  and  privileges  of  the  latter,  which  the  colo 
nies  are  determined  to  maintain,  that  the  admission  of 
any  persons,  as  soldiers,  into  the  army  now  raising,  but 
only  such  as  are  freemen,  will  be  inconsistent  with  the 
principles  that  are  to  be  supported,  and  reflect  dishonour 
on  this  colony;  and  that  no  slaves  be  admitted  into  this 
army  upon  any  consideration  whatever." 1 

The  Provincial  Congress  considered  the  matter, 
and  laid  it  on  the  table.  Free  negroes  continued 
to  serve  in  the  American  camp,  and  were  conspic 
uous  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  in  June; 
one  man,  Salem  Poor,  "  behaved  like  an  experi 
enced  officer  as  well  as  an  excellent  soldier," 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Colonel  Prescott.2 
They  were  obedient  soldiers  and  useful  labor 
ers,  of  a  less  mutinous  spirit  than  some  of  their 
white  brothers.3  In_  July  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  barred  out  all  negroes,  but  the  question 
came  to  the  front  again  in  the  autumn  of  1775, 
when  the  reenlistment  of  troops  for  1776  was 
under  discussion;  the  council  of  general  officers 

1  Moore's  Historical  Notes  on  the  Employment  of  Negroes  in 
the  American  Army,   p.    5.      Committee  of  Safety,   May   20, 
1775.      American  Archives  IV.,  vol.  2,  col.  762. 

2  Massachusetts  Archives,   vol.   180,   p.    241.      Quoted  also 
by  George  Livermore. 

3  General  Thomas  to  John  Adams.      Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  1862-63,  p.   186, 

[   21    ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

voted    October    23d    to    reject   slaves    and    free 
negroes.1 

Lord  Dunmore's  proclamation  in  November, 
1775»  freemg  all  indented  servants  and  slaves  who 
were  able  and  willing  to  bear  arms,  to  induce 
them  to  join  the  British  army,  probably  forced  a 
general  order  issued  by  Washington,  December 
3Oth,  allowing  continental  recruiting  officers  to 
enlist  free  negroes,  and  promising  to  bring  the 
whole  matter  to  the  attention  of  Congress.  Fi 
nally,  as  a  compromise,  Congress  permitted  those 
who  had  served  faithfully  at  Cambridge  to  ree'n- 
list.2  Blacks  continued  to  serve  in  the  army 
despite  all  legislative  efforts  to  exclude  them; 
a  return  of  negroes  in  Washington's  command 
August  24,  1778,  shows  that  seven  brigades  then 
had  an  average  of  fifty-four  in  each.3  A  Hessian 
officer  said  in  1777:  "One  sees  no  regiment  in 
which  there  are  not  negroes  in  abundance,  and 
among  them  are  able-bodied,  sturdy  fellows."4 
*  The  employment  of  negroes  met  with  approval 
in  many  of  the  colonies,  but  not  in  the  extreme 
South.  Rhode  Island  purchased  the  freedom  of 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  162. 

2  Journals  of  Congress,  January  16,  1776. 

3  Moore's  Historical  Notes,  p.   17  et  seq. 
4Schloezer's  Briefwechsel,  vol.  4,  p.  365. 

[    22    ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


slaves  before  enrolling  them  as  soldiers,  trusting 
to  Congress  for  financial  aid,  and  many  men  in 
Colonel  Christopher  Greene's  regiment  were  ob 
tained  in  this  way.1  The  South,  true  to  its  tradi 
tions,  refused  the  urgent  appeals  of  Colonel  John 
Laurens  in  1 779  and  in  1 782  for  permission  to  enlist 
colored  troops,  although  Congress  had  at  last  come 
to  favor  the  scheme,  and  it  was  backed  by  Alex 
ander  Hamilton  and  General  Greene.2  South 
ern  statesmen  were  by  no  means  of  one  way  of 
thinking  on  the  slavery  question  and  on  the  em 
ployment  of  negroes  as  soldiers.  The  views  which 
Laurens  expressed  to  his  father,  while  highly  cred 
itable  to  a  young  man  reared  in  South  Carolina, 
were  not  such  as  would  appeal  to  most  slave-hold 
ers.  He  wrote :  "  I  would  advance  those  who 
are  unjustly  deprived  of  the  rights  of  mankind  to 
a  state  which  would  be  a  proper  gradation  be 
tween  abject  slavery  and  perfect  liberty.  .  .  ." 
And  again :  "  I  am  tempted  to  believe  that  this 
trampled  people  have  so  much  human  left  in 
them,  as  to  be  capable  of  aspiring  to  the  rights  of 
men  by  noble  exertions,  if  some  friend  to  man 
kind  would  point  the  road,  and  give  them  a  pros- 

1  Governor  Greene's  letter,  June  3,  1779  '•>  ^n  ^-  I-  Histori 
cal  Society  Collections,  vol.  6,  pp.  235—236. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  10,  p.  48. 

[  23  ] 


Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

pect  of  success.  .  .  .  Habits  of  subordination, 
patience  under  fatigues,  sufferings  and  privations 
of  every  kind,  are  soldierly  qualifications,  which 
these  men  possess  in  an  eminent  degree."  Lau- 
rens  said  with  truth  that  five  thousand  black  sol 
diers  might  change  the  course  of  the  next  cam 
paign.  But  it  was  the  institution  of  slavery, 
not  the  character  of  the  slaves,  as  Washington 
himself  intimated,  that  placed  obstacles  in  the 
way.1  Madison  was  disposed  to  favor  the  use 
of  blacks  in  regiments  with  white  officers  and  a 
fair  proportion  of  white  soldiers.  His  corre 
spondent,  Joseph  Jones,  could  see  the  blessings 
of  emancipation,  but  he  wanted  no  hasty  meas 
ures  and  nothing  so  uncertain  in  its  results  as 
the  drafting  in  of  slaves.  His  statement  of  the 
case  is  strong  and  reasonable : 

"If  they  [the  enemy]  once  see  us  disposed  to 
arm  the  blacks  for  the  field,  they  will  follow  the 
example  and  not  disdain  to  fight  us  in  our  own 
way,  and  this  would  bring  on  the  southern  States 
inevitable  ruin.  At  least  it  would  draw  off  im 
mediately  such  a  number  of  the  best  labourers 
for  the  culture  of  the  earth  as  to  ruin  individuals, 
distress  the  State,  and  perhaps  the  Continent, 

1  Army  Correspondence  of  Colonel  John  Laurens,  pp.  108, 
115-118. 

[  24  ] 


'The   Origin  of  the  Army 


when  all  that  can  be  raised  by  their  assistance 
is  but  barely  sufficient  to  keep  us  jogging  along 
with  the  great  expence  of  the  war." 1 

The  private  who  marched  in  his  company  to 
reenforce  the  army  about  Boston  felt  somewhat 
as  a  voter  did  at  a  parish  or  a  town  meeting. 
The  company  to  which  he  belonged  was  his,  and 
the  officers  owed  their  authority  in  part  to  his 
favoring  vote.  A  private  from  New  Jersey  has 
described  the  mode  of  procedure  :  the  men  were 
"sworn  to  be  true  and  faithful  soldiers  in  the 
Continental  army,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Right  Honorable  Congress.  After  this  we  chose 
our  officers.  .  .  .  When  on  parade,  our  1st 
lieut.  came  and  told  us  he  would  be  glad  if  we 
would  excuse  him  from  going,  which  we  re 
fused  ;  but  on  consideration  we  concluded  it  was 
better  to  consent;  after  which  he  said  he  would 
go  ;  but  we  said,  '  You  shall  not  command  us,  for 
he  whose  mind  can  change  in  an  hour  is  not  fit 
to  command  in  the  field  where  liberty  is  con 
tended  for/  In  the  evening  we  chose  a  private 
in  his  place."2  Could  there  be  a  more  vivid  pict- 

1  Jones  to  Madison,  quoted  in  Madison's  Writings  (Hunt), 
vol.  i,  p.  1 06. 

2 Aaron  Wright's  Revolutionary  Journal;  in  Historical  Maga 
zine,  July,  1862,  p.  209. 

[25] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

ure  of  the  private  soldier  at  this  period  of  the 
war  ?  There  is  the  respect  (kept  well  in  hand) 
that  is  due  the  chief  legislative  body  known  as 
the  "  Right  Honorable  Congress  " ;  there  is  also 
evidence  of  a  matter-of-fact  management  of  offi 
cers  which  must  have  been  unknown  to  the  be 
nighted  British  soldier ;  then  comes  that  word 
of  philosophy  so  characteristic  of  the  age  and 
of  the  undisciplined  volunteer ;  and  finally  in  the 
election  of  a  private  as  first  lieutenant  is  shown 
that  disregard  of  station  which  gives  the  picture 
its  last  touch.1 

On  July  19,  1775,  the  army  exceeded  17,000 
men,  including  Gridley's  regiment  and  Crane's 
company  of  artillery ; 2  in  the  latter  part  of  1775 
Washington  had  about  19,000  effective  men 

1  The  oath  referred  to  above  was  no  doubt  as  follows  (Journals 
of  Congress,  June  14,  1775)  :— 

1  ...      have,  this  day,  voluntarily  enlisted  myself,   as 
a  soldier,  in  the  American  continental  army,  for  one  year,  un 
less  sooner  discharged  :  and  I  do  bind  myself  to  conform,  in  all 
instances,  to  such  rules  and  regulations,  as  are,  or  shall  be,  es 
tablished  for  the  government  of  the  said  army. 

Privates  who  took  the  oath  were  to  find  their  own  arms 
and  clothes,  and  were  to  receive  $6^/3  or  40  shillings  a 
month. — Journals  of  Congress,  June  14,  1775.  For  the 
Massachusetts  oath  see  Journals  Provincial  Congress,  May  8, 

'775- 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Sparks),  vol.  3,  p.  488. 

[  26] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


near  Boston,  most  of  whom  would  return  home 
when  their  terms  of  enlistment  expired  in  De 
cember  or  at  the  end  of  the  year.1  To  pay  off 
this  army  on  the  old  establishment,  as  it  was 
called,  and  to  provide  one  month's  pay  in  ad 
vance  for  the  new  establishment  which  was  to  be 
enlisted  to  carry  on  the  siege,  required  ^278,- 
228  155.  or  the  sum  of  $927,429 ^.2  In  the 
new  army,  which  was  to  have  20,372  men  in 
cluding  officers,3  the  soldiers  (except  drummers 
and  fifers)  were  to  furnish  good  arms  or  when 
provided  by  Congress  to  allow  a  deduction  of  six 
shillings  from  their  pay ;  a  stoppage  of  ten  shil 
lings  a  month  was  to  be  made  from  each  man's 
pay  until  his  debt  for  clothing  was  cancelled.4 
Although  this  was  an  unsatisfactory  method  at 
times,  and  the  payment  of  wages  by  the  calendar 
month  was  even  more  disliked,5  the  soldier  was 
told  to  be  cheerful  over  the  fact  that  he  received 
higher  pay  than  private  soldiers  ever  had  in  any 

1  American  Historical  Review,  vol.  I,  p.  292  ;  Washington's 
Writings  (Sparks),  vol.  3,  p.  493. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  296. 

3  Journals  of  Congress,  Nov.  4,  1775. 

4  Washington's  Orderly  Book,   October   31,  November    12, 
1775,  in  his  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  pp.  191,  221. 

5  Rev.    B.    Boardman's  Diary  ;    in   Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  May,  1892,  p.  412. 

[  27  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

former  war.1  Another  blessing  of  war  came 
when  the  colonies,  at  the  request  of  Congress, 
prohibited  the  arrest  of  Continental  soldiers  for 
debts  under  thirty-five  dollars,  or  the  attachment 
of  their  property  for  sums  under  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars.2 

When  the  principles  involved  in  the  creation  of 
a  new  army  for  the  year  1776  came  under  con 
sideration,  the  duration  of  the  contest  was  very 
uncertain.  Congress  recommended  to  Massachu 
setts  and  Connecticut  a  two-year  or  a  one-year 
term ;  it  was  found  that  men  hesitated  to  pledge 
their  services  for  the  entire  war,  and  at  that  time 
the  military  profession  was  so  little  known  and  so 
untried  by  those  who  were  fitted  only  for  the 
ranks  that  they  did  not  turn  to  it  as  readily  as 
they  did  to  farming.  John  Adams  contended 
that  a  regiment  might  possibly  be  obtained  in 
New  England  "  of  the  meanest,  idlest,  most  in 
temperate  and  worthless,  but  no  more.  A  regi 
ment  was  no  army  to  defend  this  country.  We 
must  have  tradesmen's  sons  and  farmers'  sons,  or 
we  should  be  without  defence,  and  such  men 
certainly  would  not  enlist  during  the  war,  or  for 

1  Washington's  Orderly  Book,   October   31,  November    12, 
1775,  in  his  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  pp.  191,  221. 

2  journals  of  Congress,  December  26,  1775. 

28 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


long  periods,  as  yet.  The  service  was  too  new ; 
they  had  not  yet  become  attached  to  it  by  habit. 
Was  it  credible  that  men  who  could  get  at  home 
better  living,  more  comfortable  lodgings,  more 
than  double  the  wages,  in  safety,  not  exposed  to 
the  sicknesses  of  the  camp,  would  bind  them 
selves  during  the  war?  I  knew  it  to  be  impos 
sible."  1  This  is  the  view  of  a  shrewd  observer 
of  New  England  character,  a  politician  who,  it 
may  fairly  be  said,  knew  those  of  whom  he  wrote. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  does  not  seem  to  count  the 
influence  of  patriotism  and  love  of  adventure ; 
these  certainly  would  have  moved  some  to  for 
sake  their  comforts  and  good  wages  for  the  army, 
even  had  the  term  of  service  been  long.  With 
a  small  permanent  force  many  troubles  of  the 
next  few  years  might  have  been  banished,  pro 
vided,  of  course,  the  force  was  large  enough  to 
carry  on  the  war.  The  size  of  the  army  that 
could  have  been  raised  will  always  remain  debat 
able. 

The  advantage  of  long  over  short  terms  of  en- 
listment  has  the  weight  of  all  authorities  famil 
iar  with  raising,  equipping,  and  drilling  recruits. 
Washington  himself  said  on  this  subject :  "  The 

1  John  Adams's  Autobiography,  in  his  Works  (C,  F.  Adams), 
1851,  vol.  3,  p.  48. 

[29] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

evils  arising  from  short  or  even  any  limited  in- 
listment  of  the  troops  are  greater  and  more  ex 
tensively  hurtful  than  any  person  (not  an  eye 
witness  to  them)  can  form  any  idea  of.  It  takes 
you  two  or  three  months  to  bring  new  men  in 
any  tolerable  degree  acquainted  with  their  duty ; 
it  takes  a  longer  time  to  bring  a  people  of  the 
temper  and  genius  of  these  into  such  a  subor 
dinate  way  of  thinking  as  is  necessary  for  a  sol 
dier.  Before  this  is  accomplished,  the  time  ap 
proaches  for  their  dismissal,  and  you  are  begin 
ning  to  m?u"  interest  with  them  for  their  con 
tinuance  for  another  limited  period  ;  in  the  doing 
of  which  you  are  obliged  to  relax  in  your  disci 
pline,  in  order  as  it  were  to  curry  favor  with  them, 
by  which  means  the  latter  part  of  your  time  is 
employed  in  undoing  what  the  first  was  accom 
plishing.  .  .  .  Congress  had  better  determine 
to  give  a  bounty  of  20,  30,  or  even  40  Dollars 
to  every  man  who  will  Inlist  for  the  whole  time." 1 
Joseph  Hawley,  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  might 
be  quoted  in  reply  that  no  bounty  would  induce 

1  Washington  to  Reed,  February  I,  1776,  in  his  Writings 
(Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  400.  For  some  suggestive  remarks  on 
short  enlistments  and  an  untrained  militia  during  the  wars  sub 
sequent  to  the  Revolution,  see  Hazard  Stevens' s  address,  October 
14,  1898,  "Reform  the  militia  system"  (Boston,  1898). 

[  30  ] 


WE  •wlivje  Names  are.  under  written,  <Jo  hefely  /everatfy  Tnlifl 
ths  Service  of  the  Untfed  American  Colonies,  And  federally 
end  engage-  to  continue  in  fuch  Service,  until  the  firft  T>ay  6f  December, 
ttnlefs  fwner  *Difckarged  ;  bnd  to  fittnifl)  ourjelves  each  wiU  a  good  efeflivS 
Fife  *Arm,and  ifpojfible.a  Bayonet  fitted  thereto,  a  Cartridge  Box  and  Blanket, 
or  in  L-iva  cj  a.  Bayonet,  a  Hatchet  or  Tomahawk  :  —  We  alfo  in.  Hie  JMgnxer 
•  -promt  fe  and  engtge  to  obey  all  the  lawful  Commands  of  the  Officers  appointed  or 
to  be  appointed  over  us,  pursuant  to  the  Refohes  of  the  General  'Court  of  the 
Colony  0/Maflachufetts-Bay  •  and  under  tbf^Direftion  vf  fucb  Officers  to  marcb, 
tvhen  ordered,  with  the  utmojt  'Difpctich,  to  the  Northern  'Department  ^rCanada, 
and  to  be  fuljeft  to  all  facb  Rules  and  Regulations,  in  every  Rcjfcft,  cs  are 
or  the  Continental  Army.  July 


An  enlistment  blank  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,   1776. 

'>  t*.  . 


w 


£  the  Subfcribers  de  hereby  feve rally  inlijt  eurf elves  into  tie  Service  oft&e United 
American  Colonies,  until  the  firft  7>ay  of  January  next,  if  the.  Service  JbouM 
require  it  ^anti  each  efut  do: engage  lofurnijk. ana  carry  with  us  into  tht  Servift  *forf- 
faid,  agtedf/ttfivs  Firt  Arm  tnd  Blanket  ;  (alfe,  a  good  Bayonet,  Cartridge  Poutk,  and 
a  Hatchet,  erTtma&ew},  or  Culting'Sword,  if  pff/tble-  ;)  and  we  Severally  con/en t  la  be 
formed  by  fucb  Per  fan  or  Perjeni  as  the  General  Court  /bail  appoint,  into  a  Company  of 
Ninety  Men,  including  one  Captain,  two  Lieutenants,  one  Enftgn;  four  Serjeants,  futr 
Corporals,  tne  'Drttm,  tnd  9ne  Fife,  to  be  defied  by  tbeCompany  and  ctmmijjionated  by  the 
Council,  and  when  formed,  we  engage  to  March  int*  Canada,  with  the*tmefi  Expedition, 
tnd  t9  be  under  fab  Field  Officer*  as  the  General  Court  have  appointed,  tfjball  appoint} 
.end tvc  fyrifar'agreev  during  theTimc  afore ftid,  fa  befubpS  tofaeh  General f,  tr  faperitr 
Officers,  as  art  or* fait  be  appoints/',  tnd  la  be  under  fKcbReg*ltfi9nt,\in 
<gf  KC  provided  fir  the  JLrny  ofyrejtid,  jDaltd  the  «f 

JL  *£>.  1776. 

An  enlistment  blank  of  1776. 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


New  England  men  to  enlist  for  more  than  two 
years.1 

The  popular  feeling  in  the  autumn  of  1776  is 
well  shown  by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter 
of  Josiah  Bartlett,  a  delegate  in  Congress  from 
Rhode  Island :  "  I  am  fully  sensible,"  he  writes, 
"  of  the  great  difficulties  we  labour  under  by  the 
soldiers  being  enlisted  for  such  short  periods,  and 
that  it  would  have  been  much  better  had  they  at 
first  received  a  good  bounty,  and  been  enlisted  to 
serve  during  the  war.  But  you  may  recollect  the 
many,  and,  to  appearance,  almost  insuperable 
difficulties  that  then  lay  in  our  way.  No  money, 
no  magazines  of  provisions,  no  military  stores,  no 
government;  in  short,  when  I  look  back,  and 
consider  our  situation  about  fifteen  months  ago, 
instead  of  wondering  that  we  are  in  no  better 
situation  than  at  present,  I  am  surprised  we  are 
in  so  good."  2 

The  colonies,  particularly  at  the  north  where 
democracy  was  less  tolerant  of  militarism,  dread 
ed  a  standing  army,3  which  to  most  minds  had 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  I,  col.  404. 

2  Ibid.>  vol.  2,  col.  1 1 8. 

3  "  The  well  disciplining  the  militia  renders  useless  that  danger 
ous  power  and  grievous  Burden,  a  standing  Army" — T.  Pick 
ering  in  the  Essex  Gazette,  January  31,  1769,  p.  I. 

[  31  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

some  close  but  mysterious  connection  with  "  en 
listing  for  the  war."  Among  northern  officers 
this  feeling  crystallized  into  a  leaning  toward 
colony  affiliation  in  preference  to  Congressional 
control  ^Governor  Ward  of  Rhode  Island,  who 
was  no  enemy  to  the  Continental  system,  attrib 
uted  the  slow  enlistment  under  the  new  establish 
ment  to  dislike  of  plans  brought  forward  through 
southern  influence  favorable  to  an  army  "wholly 
Continental"  or  attached  solely  to  the  Congress.1* 
The  difficulties  which  were  encountered  in 
raising,  equipping,  and  supporting  a  regular  army 
led  to  the  frequent  use  of  militia.  This  in  turn 
hindered  the  pursuit  of  agriculture  and  brought 
about  a  greater  scarcity  of  food,2  while  the  con 
stant  coming  and  going  of  men,  some  of  whom 
had  been  hired  at  exorbitant  rates — $150  in  spe 
cie  for  five  months  of  service — increased  the 
consumption  of  supplies  without  adding  propor 
tionately  to  the  effective  force.  Men  were  to  be 
seen  in  the  country  taverns  and  upon  the  roads, 
some  returning  from  service,  some  away  on  fur 
lough,  and  too  many  away  through  desertion. 

1  Samuel  Ward  to  his  brother,  November  21,  1775;  in 
W.  GammeH's  Life  of  Ward  (Sparks's  Library  of  American 
Biography,  second  series,  ix.,  p.  327). 

*  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  8,  p.  395. 

[32] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


In  a  war  of  great  successes  their  presence  in  the 
country  might  have  encouraged  enlistments  by 
awaking  a  warlike  spirit ;  in  a  war  of  delay  and 
hardships  they  must  have  done  little  or  nothing 
to  offset  the  heavy  cost  of  travel  and  rations 
while  on  their  journey.  The  amusing  experience 
of  a  not  over-scrupulous  private  while  on  his 
travels  has  been  related  by  himself: 

"The  2oth  [February,  1780]  I  leaves  Mr. 
Lowdens  [at  New  Windsor]  £nd  Crosses  the 
North  River  and  Comes  to  Fishkill,  and  gos  to 
a  offiser  to  git  an  order  to  Draw  provision,  and 
he  hapened  to  be  there  that  I  Drue  provision  on 
the  Day  before,  he  said,  Did  not  you  Draw 
Eight  Days  yesterday  (I  found  I  was  Cached). 
I  said  yes  but  that  was  to  Carry  me  to  Boston. 
He  said  how  I  Could  draw  at  Litchfield  and  at 
Hartford.  I  said  I  did  not  want  to  Draw  it  there 
to  have  to  Carry  it."  1 

The  captains  and  lieutenants  were  kept  busy 
training  raw  recruits ;  this  work  was  not  left  to 
sergeants  and  corporals,  as  it  seemed  best  to  have 
a  closer  bond  between  the  officers  and  their 
men.2  \  Baron  Steuben  was  an  ardent  advocate 

1  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  p.  13.      The  punctuation  has  been 
supplied. 

2  A.  Graydon's  Memoirs,  pp.   117-122. 

[  33  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

of  personal  contact  of  officer  and  private  ;  he  had 
no  patience  with  the  British  custom  of  giving 
over  the  awkward  squads  to  sergeants.  He  rose 
at  three  in  the  morning  during  the  manoeuvres, 
says  his  biographer  North,  drank  a  cup  of  coffee 
and  smoked  a  single  pipe  while  his  servant  dressed 
his  hair;  at  sunrise  he  was  on  horseback.  A  year 
or  two  later  when  his  theories  of  training  had 
come  to  have  their  influence  he  said  :  "  Do  you 
see  there,  sir,  your  colonel  instructing  that  recruit? 
I  thank  God  for  that."  1  His  own  interest  in  the 
rank  and  file  was  very  real.  One  day  during  the 
roll-call  Steuben  heard  a  private  answer  to  the 
name  Arnold  ;  he  summoned  the  man  to  his  tent, 
told  him  that  so  good  a  soldier  should  not  bear 
a  traitor's  name,  and  gave  him  permission  to  be 
known  thereafter  as  Steuben.2 

Increase  in  the  price  of  food  and  clothing 
which  accompanies  war  tends  to  check  the  en 
listment  of  married  men,  and  the  rise  in  artisans' 
wages  still  further  operates  in  the  same  direction 
where  men  have  families  dependent  upon  them 
for  support.  Under  these  conditions  the  bounty 
or  pay  must  be  advanced,  as  was  ably  set  forth  in 
the  time  of  the  Civil  War  by  Governor  Oliver  P. 

JKapp's  Steuben  (1859),  pp.   130,  131. 
2  Ibid.t  p.  290. 

[  34] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 

Morton  of  Indiana  in  an  address  to  Congress  in  - 
1862,  entitled  "Increase  of  Pay  of  private  Sol 
diers."  '"Colonel  Cortlandt  related  to  General  Gates 
a  case  that  tells  of  the  married  man's  trials :  "  The 
bearer  hereof,  William  Foster,  a  soldier  in  Col 
onel  Wynkoop's  regiment,  having  lately  buried 
his  wife,  and  has  with  him  now  at  this  place  five 
small  children,  and  no  way  to  provide  provision 
for  them  unless  he  can  be  discharged  to  go  to  a 
small  farm  he  has  some  distance  from  here,  and 
begs  me  to  write  in  his  favour  to  procure  his  dis 
charge."  1 

The  privations  of  army  life  were  trifling  when 
compared  with  the  worry  that  was  caused  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  privation  at  hornet  The  steady 
increase  of  taxes  in  1779-82  and  the  departure 
of  farm-hands  to  the  front  drove  women  almost 
to  desperation.  State  and  town  officials  endeav 
ored  to  aid  and  support  the  wives  and  children 
of  the  soldiers,2  and  to  check  and  punish  those 
who  forced  up  the  necessities  of  life  beyond  the 
prices  agreed  upon  by  state  or  county  conven 
tions  and  accepted  by  the  towns.3  Salt,  so  nec- 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  573. 
2Miss  Caulkins's  New  London  (1852),  p.    503.     Wheel 
er's  History  of  Brunswick,  Me.,  pp.  125,  126,  170. 

3  New  London,  p.  503  ;  Parmenter's  Pelham,  Mass.,  p.  137. 

[  35  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

essary  to  every  farm  that  had  live  stock,  rose 
from  about  thirty  cents  a  bushel  to  almost  as 
many  dollars ;  tea  and  molasses  also  advanced  to 
a  price  that  bore  hard  upon  the  poor.1  Women 
did  the  hard  work  of  the  farm,  with  a  sugges 
tion  or  word  of  advice  at  long  intervals  from 
their  absent  husbands.  )p:  private  at  the  siege 
of  Boston  wrote  to  his  wife  and  children  in 
1775: 

"  I  must  Bee  Short !  gat  2  or  3  Bushel  of  Solt 
as  quick  as  you  Can  for  it  will  Bee  Deer,  and 
what  [cattle  *?]  the  Barn  will  Not  Winter  [i.e., 
hold  through  the  winter]  the  Sailer  Sail  [cellar 
shall  ?]  ;  and  give  them  as  good  a  chance  [to 
thrive]  as  you  Can  and  as  for  my  Coming 
home  I  Can  Not  if  you  Sant  ten  men  in  my 
Room."  2 

There  was  at  the  same  time,  if  Dr.  Benjamin 
Rush  is  right  in  his  assertion,  an  increase  in  the 
birth-rate  in  America,  implying  prosperity  or  at 
least  easy  circumstances  among  a  considerable 
part  of  the  population.3  In  the  larger  centres 
of  trade  the  increased  circulation  of  money,  the 
growth  in  importation  of  goods  and  in  transpor- 

1  Stevens' s  Facsimiles,  No.  2082. 

2Parmenter's  Pelham,  p.   129. 

3  Massachusetts  Magazine  for  1791,  p.  360. 

[  36  ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


tation  of  grain,  with  an  undoubted  demand  for 
labor,  all  combined  to  give  an  appearance  of 
good  times  to  that  class  which  has  nothing  to 
lose  by  war.  The  men  about  the  taverns,  the 
small  shops,  and  the  wharves  married  and  cared 
for  their  families.  Dr.  Rush  declares  that  from 
the  year  1776  to  the  close  of  the  war  beggars 
were  rarely  seen.  The  burdens  of  the  war  were 
not  wiped  out,  but  were  placed  upon  the  owners 
of  the  soil ;  poverty  was  lifted  from  the  town  poor 
to  fall  upon  the  farmers. 

As  it  became  more  and  more  difficult  for 
farmers  to  support  their  families,  it  is  no  surprise 
to  find  that  after  the  first  enthusiasm  had  died 
away,  the  enlistment  of  men  was  slow  and  un 
pleasant.  An  officer  would  go  to  the  village 
tavern,  wax  eloquent,  and  pass  round  the  toddy 
until  some  country  lad  was  moved  to  sign  his  name 
to  the  papers ;  but  unless  an  officer  was  shrewd, 
he  came  away  with  his  money  spent  and  no  re 
cruit  at  his  back.  That  his  errand  was  some 
times  a  relief  to  a  town  may  be  inferred  from  a 
note  in  Graydon's  Memoirs: 

"  Mr.  Heath     .     .     .     helped  us     ...     to 

a  recruit,  a  fellow,  he  said,  who  would  do  to  stop 

a  bullet  as  well  as  a  better  man,  and  as  he  was 

a  truly  worthless  dog,  he  held  that  the  neighbor- 

[  37  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

hood  would  be  much  indebted  to  us  for  taking 
him  away."  1 

Another  writer  has  pictured  the  motley  throng 
of  men  and  boys,  in  all  stages  of  intoxication,  that 
gathered  about  a  recruiting  officer  in  a  seaport 
town.  When  the  band  which  he  employed  to 
gather  a  crowd  had  stopped  playing  he  stood  at 
the  street  corner  beneath  a  flag  and  sang  in  a 
comical  manner  : 

All  you  that  have  bad  masters, 

And  cannot  get  your  due, 
Come,  come,  my  brave  boys, 

And  join  with  our  ship's  crew. 

This  was  followed  by  cheers  and  a  commotion 
in  which  men  were  persuaded  or  driven  to  the 
wharves  and  aboard  a  privateer  that  was  ready 
for  a  cruise.2 

Many  undesirable  army  recruits  were  sent  to 
camp,  and  upon  one  occasion  General  Parsons 
forwarded  seven  useless  fellows  to  Hartford  that 
the  Connecticut  Legislature  might  see  what  im 
position  was  practised  by  some  recruiting  of 
ficers.3  Congress  decided  in  January,  1776,  to 

1  Graydon's  Memoirs,  p.  135. 

2E.  Fox's  Revolutionary  Adventures,  p.  56. 

3  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  9,  p.   156. 

[  38  ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


disapprove  the  employment  of  prisoners,  and  thus 
closed  to  the  enlistment  officer  a  hopeful  field  for 
his  efforts.  When  voluntary  enlistments  fell  off 
the  authorities  resorted  to  drafts ;  these  were  not 
always  successful,  especially  in  the  disaffected 
districts,  where  many  officers  and  men  so  obtained 
proved  to  be  Tories  at  heart.1  '  When  the  militia 
were  well  fed  and  clothed,  with  good  officers  to 
make  them  contented,  numbers  of  the  rank  and 
file  could  be  trusted  at  times  to  go  home  to  gath 
er  recruits.  Colonel  Thomson,  of  South  Carolina, 
on  one  occasion  wished  to  send  most  of  his  men 
away  on  furlough,  so  that  they  might  return  in 
time  with  lusty  country  lads  at  their  heels.* >f 

No  doubt  there  was  an  element  less  readily 
moved  to  enlist  by  patriotism  than  by  material  and 
tangible  considerations,  however  deep,  strong,  and 
broad  the  unseen  current  of  loyalty  might  be.  A 
warm,  pleasant  day  in  the  autumn  of  1775  and  a 
cheering  glass  of  grog  helped  the  officers  who 
were  recruiting  for  the  army  of  1 776.3  This,  the 
testimony  of  an  officer  at  Roxbury,  fairly  repre- 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  206. 

2 Thomson  to  Rutledge  and  to  Howe,  June  9,  1777,  in  Sal- 
ley's  Orangeburg  County,  S.  C.,  pp.  450,  451. 

3J.  Fitch,  Jr.'s,  Diary,  November  14,  1775  ;  in  Massachu 
setts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  May,  1894,  p.  80. 

[  39  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

sents  the  easy-going  spirit  which  governed  men  of 
a  certain  class.  They  were  not  the  privates  who 
studied  by  the  camp-fire  and  kept  diaries,  but 
many  were  none  the  less  useful  soldiers.  A  battle 
sifts  men  by  a  process  unknown  to  the  days  of 
peace,  bringing  to  the  front  unexpected  heroes. 
Can  you  not  see  two  of  them  now — Haines  at 
Bemis  Heights,  astride  the  muzzle  of  a  British 
brass  twelve-pounder,  ramming  his  bayonet  into 
the  thigh  of  a  savage  foe,  recovering  himself  to 
parry  the  thrust  of  a  second,  and,  quick  as  a  tiger, 
dashing  the  same  bloody  bayonet  through  his 
head ;  recovering  again,  only  to  fall  from  the  can 
non,  shot  through  the  mouth  and  tongue ;  lying 
two  nights  on  the  battle-field  until  thirst,  hunger, 
and  loss  of  blood  overcame  him,  then  in  the  ranks 
of  the  dead  made  ready  for  burial ;  and  from  all 
this  recovering  for  three  years  more  of  service  and 
a  green  old  age  :  *  or  again,  that  unknown  dare 
devil  whose  swaying  figure  stood  out  upon  the 
parapet  of  the  entrenchments  about  Yorktown, 
brandishing  his  spade  at  every  ball  that  burred 
about  him,  finally  going  to  his  death,  "  damning 
his  soul  if  he  would  dodge." 2 

1Kidder's  First  New  Hampshire  Regiment,  p.  23. 
2  Captain  James  Duncan's  Diary  ;  in  Pennsylvania  Archives, 
second  series,  vol.  15,  p.  748. 

[  40  ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


"  The  common  people,"  said  General  Greene, 
referring  to  New  England,  "  are  exceedingly  ava 
ricious;  the  genius  of  the  people  is  commercial 
from  their  long  intercourse  with  trade."1  This 
spirit  prompted  many  from  the  towns  to  make 
the  best  bargain  possible  when  they  enlisted  for 
the  year  1776,  while  the  farmers,  who  usually  saw 
very  little  money,  coveted  the  bounty  that  was 
offered.*.  Washington  had  an  independent  in 
come;  the  poorer  officers  and  the  rank  and  file 
depended  for  their  subsistence  and  the  support  of 
their  families  upon  their  meagre  and  uncertain 
pay.  This  difference  in  condition  did  not  impress 
Washington  with  sufficient  force  in  his  first  en 
counter  with  the  army.  There  was  no  doubt  "  a 
dirty,  mercenary  spirit"  which  to  some  extent 
made  possible  "stock-jobbing  and  fertility  in  all 
low  arts  to  obtain  advantages  of  one  kind  and 
another,"  but  that  it  "  pervaded  the  whole  "  one 
must  doubt.  The  diaries  of  officers  and  privates, 
written  with  no  thought  of  publication,  show  a 
loyalty  and  in  some  instances  a  religious  earnest 
ness  that  must  indicate  widespread  moral  purpose.2 

1  Greene  to  Ward,  December   18,  1775  ;  in  Greene's  Na- 
thanael  Greene  (1867),  vol.  I,  p.  126. 

2  Washington's  Writings   (Ford),  vol.  I,  p.   81  ;  vol.  3,  p. 
247. 

[  41  ] 


The  Private   Soldier   Under  Washington 

The  character  and  care  of  the  private  soldiers 
were  subjects  for  debate  in  every  town  that  la 
bored  diligently  to  keep  its  quota  of  men  in 
the  field.  As  the  farmers  sat  about  the  fire  in 
the  stuffy  town  threshing  the  matter  out,  a  weather 
worn,  weary  volunteer  home  upon  furlough  often 
sat  there  too  and  heard  what  they  thought 
of  him.  Sometimes  he  had  an  opportunity  to 
know  what  the  leaders  thought.  Elijah  Fisher 
has  described  his  interview  with  the  commit 
tee  of  inquiry  in  Boston,  whither  he  went  to 
get  satisfaction,  having  complained  because  they 
deducted  from  the  amount  still  due  him  as 
wages  on  account  of  the  depreciation  in  paper 
money,  the  bounty  which  he  had  received. 
The  punctuation  has  been  added,  but  the  story 
is  his : 

"  One  of  the  Comita,  starting]  up,  with  his 
grate  wigg,  said  the  sholgers  had  been  used  very 
well ;  sometimes  these  things  were  not  to  be  got, 
and  then  we  could  not  have  them  as  soon  as  we 
should  wish.  I  was  rong  in  acusing  and  talking 
as  you  [I  ?J  do. 

"  Then  spake  up  another,  that  set  a  little  Dis 
tance  and  heard  what  was  said  (a  black  haired 
man),  in  my  behalf,  and  said  that  the  sholgers 
had  been  used  very  ill  as  this  man  said,  and  that 
[  42  ] 


The   Origin  of  the  Army 


they  are  cheated   out  of  a  good  eel    that  they 
ought  to  have.     .     .     . JJl 

It  was  no  light  task  to  bring  an  army  into  the 
field  and  maintain  it  for  years,  combating  success 
fully  the  local  prejudices  of  northerner  and  south 
erner,  the  greed  for  bounties,  the  trials  that  follow 
a  depreciating  currency  and  an  advance  in  the 
price  of  family  necessities,  the  fear  of  militarism 
and  the  dislike  of  strict  discipline  in  an  age  of 
democratic  theories.  That  the  army  about  Bos 
ton  had  the  virtues  that  characterized  many  of  the 
soldiers  themselves  no  one  will  doubt.  That  it 
fell  short  in  certain  particulars  may  be  surmised 
from  the  exclamation  of  a  southern  rifleman  in 
the  camp  at  Prospect  Hill  in  September,  1775: 
"Such  Sermons,  such  Negroes,  such  Colonels, 
such  Boys,  &  such  Great  Great  Grandfathers." 2 

1  E.  Fisher's  Journal,  p.  14. 

2  Letter  of  Jesse  Lukens  ;  in  Boston  Public  Library  Histori 
cal  Manuscripts,  No.  I,  p.  27. 


[  43  ] 


II 

Maintaining  the  Forces 

WITH  the  opening  of  spring  in  the  year 
1776  (March  ijth)  the  British  evacu 
ated  Boston,  and  Washington  was  free 
to  turn  his  attention  to  New  York.  The  new 
field  of  action  was  far  from  the  farms  of  many  of 
the  volunteers  and  they  were  anxious  to  be  re 
lieved  from  service;  the  people  in  the  central 
colonies  were  by  no  means  united  in  support  of 
the  patriot  cause  and  armj  life  among  them  was 
not  found  to  be  atf^pleasant  as  it  had  been  in  New 
England.  The  situation  from  a  military  point  of 
view  was  more  difficult  than  in  Massachusetts, 
and  Washington,  learning  his  lessons  as  a  com 
mander  in  the  school  of  experience,  made  life 
harder  for  the  rank  and  file.  Recruits  were  few, 
and  there  was  need  of  some  method  to  increase 
the  army  for  the  new  enterprises. 

Early  in  June  Congress  drew  up  a  plan  to  en 
list  militia,  6,000  for  the   campaign  in  Canada, 
13,800  for  New  York,  and   10,000  for  a  flying 
camp  in  the  middle  colonies ;  but  the  bounty  of 
[  44  ] 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


$10  which  was  offered  had  little  effect  upon  men 
who  could  get  a  larger  sum  for  shorter  emergency 
service  in  the  local  organizations.1  Two  other 
inducements  were  held  out,  a  gift  of  land  as  sug 
gested  by  Washington,2  and  a  provision  for  sol 
diers  who  should  be  so  injured  that  they  could  no 
longer  serve  in  the  army  nor  get  their  livelihood 
by  their  labor.3 

A  serious  obstacle  which  confronted  the  eastern 

V 
States  at  this  time  in  their  attempts  to  fill  their 

quotas  was  an  excessive  rage  for  privateering  which 
drew  from  New  England  alone  some  10,000 
hardy,  brave  men.  Clever  advertisements  in  the 
newspapers4  and  alluring  posters  were  handed 
about;  these,  with  marvellous  stories  of  spoils 
from  the  West  Indies,  repeated  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  fostered  discontent  in  camp  and  checked  - 
enlistments  at  home.5  Vast  numbers,  said  Mrs. 
Adams,  were  employed  in  privateering,  and  offi 
cers  were  not  too  particular  in  the  methods  used 
to  get  recruits  away  from  the  militia.6  Self- 
journals  of  Congress,  June  26,  1776. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  380. 

3  Journals  of  Congress,  August  26,  1776. 

4  Miss  Caulkins's  New  London,  p.  541. 

5B.  Rust  to  R.  H.  Lee;  in  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3, 
col.  1513  ;  also  ibid.,  vol.  2,  col.  337. 
.,  vol.  2,  col.  599  ;  col.  622. 

[  45  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

interest,  said  John  Paul  Jones,  and  this  only,  in 
fluenced  owners  and  sailors  who  preferred  priva 
teers  to  the  navy  service.1  Looking  at  the  matter 
in  another  way,  privateers  were  a  blessing;  they 
offered  protection  to  helpless  seaport  towns,  and 
discouraged  petty  marauding  expeditions  of  the 
British  against  fishing  villages.  This  work  of 
the  privateers  freed  the  militia  from  service  in 
the  coastguard,  and  permitted  a  concentration  of 
forces  for  larger  undertakings.2 

The  prevalence  of  smallpox  about  Boston  in 
the  summer  of  1 776  added  to  the  trials  of  Massa 
chusetts  recruiting  officers,  and  made  help  from 
that  section  of  the  'country  less  welcome  to  the 
army  at  New  York ; 3  but  the  need  of  reenforce- 
ments  was  so  urgent  that  any  risk  seemed  justifi 
able.  The  effect  of  enlistments  and  drafts  upon 
the  population  of  a  small  town  are  described  by 
Mrs.  John  Adams  in  September,  1776: 

"  Forty  men,"  she  writes,  "  are  now  drafted  from 
this  town.  More  than  one  half,  from  sixteen  to 
fifty,  are  now  in  the  service.  ...  I  hardly 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  1105.      See  also  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society  Collections,  vol.  6,  p.  207. 

2  James  Lyon,  in  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  i,  col.   1282. 
3Serle  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  August  I2th.      Stevens 's  Facsim 
iles,  No.  2041. 

[  46] 


GREAT 

^E  N  C  O  U  R  A  G  E  MJSNJT 

SEAMEN. 

it- 

LL  GENTLEMEN  SEAMEN  and  able-bodied  LANDSMFN1 
who  have  a  Mind  to   diftinguifh  thcmfclves  in  die  GLORIOUS      . 
CAUSL  of  their  Ob      TRY,   and  nuke  their  Fortunes,  an.Op- 
;*"BPri.nniTy  nov*  jaflr"  on  '••>  ••'  the  <-'!-.ip  R  AN'GEK,  ol  Xwcuty 
Gtin*.    ffor  £»**«)  rWlayiJtj  )?•  PORTSMOUTH,  In  the  State  of  NEW-HAMP- 
rBy  JOHTTTTrUL   JONE$/1  iq;  let  them  repair   to  the  bhipls   Kexiez- 
uc  in  PORTSMOUTH,  or  at  the  Sign  of  CoiAmotifrc  MANLEV,  in  SALEM,  where  they  will  belcind- 
ly  cntcttained»?8nd  receive   the  greateft   Encoura^nicnt.- --The  Ship    RANCFR,  in  the  Opinion  of      ' 
every  Perfon  wno  has  fccn  her  is  looked   uport  s&bt  one  of  the  beft  Cruizers  in  AMERICA. — She 
will  be  always  able  to  Fight  her  Guns  undei1  jdrioft  excellent  Cover  ;  .and  no  Veflel  yet  built 
was  ever  calculated  for  failing  fatter,  and^rntlftng   good  Weather. 

Any  GENTLEMEN    VOLUNTEER!  who  have  a^vtind  to  take  an  agreablc  Voyage  in  thi?  pleafant 
Srafon  of   the  Ycnr,  may,  by  entering    on  boatd   the    above    Ship     RANGER,    meet    with   every    ' 
Civility    they    can  poiiibly   cxpeft,   and  for  a  farther  Encouragement   depend   on   the  firft  Op 
portunity  bcjftgf'fnibriu-rJ    to   re -.vard  each  one  agrcable  to  hi«    Merit. 


-r.        All  reafo^^v.   Ttavrlling   Expenses  will  la-  allowed, 
'     'their  AppearumT'on   Board. 


-Money   be  paid  on 


CONGRESS, 


k 


THAT    the    MARINE    COMMITTEE   be  .autlibrifed    to   advance   to   every    able   Seaman,     that 
enter*    into    the   CONTINENTAL    SERVIC),    any    Sum    not  exceeding    FORTY    D  O  L- 
LARS,  and   to   every    ordinary    Seaman   or  jLandfman,   any    Sum   not  exceeding   TWEN 
TY     DOLLARS,  'to    be    deducted    from  (their    future    Prize- Money. 

By     Order    of    CONGRESS,    ' 

\  O  H  N       HANCOCK,       PRESIWNT. 

, , i . 

,\^     >  VJKVkKS:  Panted  bv    E.  lUfllik,    «    the   HouTe  late  the  Eai-Tarew. 

;  __  ^ 

A  very  rare  broadside  inviting  enlistment  under  Paul  Jones,  1777. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem.) 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


think  you  can  be  sensible  how  much  we  are 
thinned  in  this  Province.  .  .  .  If  it  is  neces 
sary  to  make  any  more  drafts  upon  us,  the  women 
must  reap  the  harvests.  I  am  willing  to  do  my 
part.  I  believe  I  could  gather  corn  and  husk  it, 
but  I  should  make  a  poor  figure  at  digging  po 
tatoes."  1 

The  absence  of  militiamen  during  harvest  time 
was  a  serious  loss  to  a  town  in  the  destruction  of 
unharvested  crops ;  the  knowledge  of  this  preyed 
upon  the  minds  of  the  farmer-soldiers  themselves 
and  led  to  desertion.2  "  In  some  parishes,"  wrote 
Colonel  Fitch,  of  Connecticut,  "  but  one  or  two 
[men]  are  left ;  some  have  got  ten  or  twelve  loads 
of  hay  cut,  and  not  a  man  left  to  take  it  up ;  some 
five  or  six,  under  the  same  circumstances;  some 
have  got  a  great  quantity  of  grass  to  cut ;  some 
have  not  finished  hoeing  corn ;  some,  if  not  all, 
have  got  all  their  ploughing  to  do,  for  sowing 
their  winter  grain;  some  have  all  their  families 
sick,  and  not  a  person  left  to  take  care  of  them. 
.  .  .  It  is  enough  to  make  a  man's  heart 
ache  to  hear  the  complaints  of  some  of  them." 3 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  599  (September  29th). 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  col.  172. 

3 Jonathan  Fitch  to  Governor  Trumbull,  August  13,  1776; 
in  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  i,  col.  938. 

[  47  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

In  the  southern  colonies  the  minds  of  the  recruits 
from  the  frontier  or  "back  country"  were  fre 
quently  harassed  by  rumors  of  Indian  raids  upon 
their  homes.  Officers  at  such  times  asked  for  fur 
loughs  or  resigned,  and  privates  deserted  in  their 
desperation.1 

Under  these  circumstances  the  most  pressing 
calls  for  more  troops  met  with  little  response  from 
the  people.  They  felt  that  they  had  done  enough, 
and  the  legislatures  were  either  unwilling  or  un 
able  to  urge  them  to  further  sacrifice.  If  Con 
gress  itself  was  slow  to  see  the  need  of  a  greater 
army,  the  disaster  at  Long  Island  in  August  pro 
duced  an  immediate  change.  Upon  September 
l6th  Congress  voted  that  eighty-eight  battalions 
be  enlisted  to  serve  during  the  war.2  Each  non 
commissioned  officer  and  private  was  promised 
a  bounty  of  $20,  and  a  hundred  acres  of  land 

Galley's  Orangeburg  County,  S.  C.,  p.  439. 
2  The  apportionment  was  : 
New  Hampshire .  .    3  battalions     Delaware i  battalion 


Massachusetts  Bay.  I  5 
Rhode  Island  ....    ^ 

Connecticut 8 

New  York 4 

New  Jersey 4 


Maryland 8  battalions 

Virginia 15        " 

North  Carolina.  9  «« 
South  Carolina.  6  " 
Georgia i  battalion 


Pennsylvania 12 

Sixteen  additional   battalions  were  authorized  later.      (Heath's 
Memoirs,  p.   116,  and  Journals  of  Congress,  December  27th.) 

[  48  ] 


IN       CONGRESS, 

SEPTEMBER    16,    1776. 


R 


E  S  O  L  V  E  D,  That  eighty-eight  Battalioru  be  enlifted  u  fcon  ai  poffible.  to  lenre 
during  the  prefent  War,  and  that  o»ch  State  furnifh  their  refpedive  Quou»  in  the 
following  Proportions,  viz. 

New-Hampfhire        -  -  -        3  Battalion*. 

Maflachufetts-Bay        -  -  -     15  Ditto. 

Rhode-IHand  -  -  -        2  Ditto. 

Conneaicut         ...  -       8  Ditto. 

New-York  4  Ditto. 

New.Jerfey         -  4  Ditto. 

Pennlylvania         -  -  -  it  Ditto. 

Delaware  I  Ditto. 

Maryland  0  Ditto, 

Virginia        -  -  -  -       >5  Ditto. 

North-Carolina  -  -  -      9  Ditto. 

South-Carolina          -  -          6  Ditto. 

Georgia          -  >  -  i  Ditto. 

THAT  Twenty  Dollars  be  given  as  a  Bounty  to  each  non  commiflioned  Officer  and  private 
Soldier,  who  (hall  enlift  to  fcrve  during  the  prefent  War,  unlefc  fooner  difcharged  by  Congrefs. 

THAT  Congrefs  make  Providon  for  granting  Lands  in  the  following  Proportions  to  the  Officers 
and  Soldiers  who  (hall  fo  engage  in  the  Service,  and  continue  therein  to  the  Clofc  ot  the  War,  or 
until  difcharged  by  Congrels,  and  to  the  Reprtfentatives  ot  foch  Officers  and  Soldiers  as  fliall  be 
flam  by  the  Enemy  5  fuch  Lands  to  be  provided  by  the  United  States,  and  whatever  Expence 
Jhall  be  necefiary  to  procure  fuch  Land,  the  faid  Expence  (hall  be  paid  and  bome  by  the  Statei 
in  the  fimc  Proportion  as  the  other  Expcnccs  of  the  War,  viz. 

To  a  Colonel  500  Acres, 

a  Lieutenant-Colonel          -  -        450  Ditto, 

a  Major  -'  400  Ditto, 

s  Captain  -  -  -  300  Ditto. 

a  Lieutenant  ...        2oo  Ditto, 

an  Enfign      -  -  -  -       150  Bitto, 

Each  non-commiflkmed  Officer  and  Soldier  100  Acres. 

THAT  the  Appointment  of  all  Officers  and  filling  up  Vacancies  (except  general  Officers')  be 
leh  to  the  Governments  ot  the  feveral  States,   and  that  every  State  provide  Arms,  Cloathing, 
»nd  every  Neceflary  for  its  Quota  of  Troops  according  to  the  foregoing  Eftimate  j    the  Expence 
of  the  Cloathing  to  be  dedutfed  from  the  pay  of  the  Soldiers  as  ufual. 
THAT  all  Officers  be  commidioned  by  Congrefs. 

THAT  it  be  recommended  to  the  feveral  States  that  they  take  the  mftft  fpeedy  and  effectual 
M.-afures  for  enlifting  their  feveral  Quotas.  That  the  Money  to  be  given  for  Bounrie*  be  paid 
by  the  Paymafter  in  the  Department  where  the  Soldier  (hall  enlift. 

THAT  each  Soldier  receive  Pay  and  SirbGftence  from  the  Time  of  their  Enliftmem. 

SEPTEMBER   18,   1776. 

RESOLVED,  That  if  Rations  be  received  by  the  Officers  or  Privates  in  the  Continental 
Army  in  Money,  they  be  paid  at  the  Kate  of  Eight  Ninetieth  Parts  of  a  Dollar  per  Ration. 

THAT  the  Bounty  and  Grants  of  Land,  offered  by  Congrefs  by  a  Refolution  of  the  t6th  Inftant 
»s  an  Encouragement  to  the  Officers  and  Soldiers  to  engage  to  ferve  in  the  Army  of  the  United 
States  during  the  War,  (hall  extend  to  all  who  are  or  mail  be  enlifted  for  that  Term,  the  Bounty 
t  Ten  Dollars  which  any  ot  the  Soldiers  have  received  trom  ihc  Continent  on  Account  of  a  lor- 
mer  Enlillment,  to  be  reckoned  in  part  Payment  of  the  Twenty  Dollars  offered  by  faid  Relolution. 
THAT  no  Officer  in  the  Continental  Army  is  allowed  to  hold  more  than  one  Commiffion,  or  to 
receive  Pay  but  in  one  Capacity. 

THAT  the  Adjutants  of  Regiments  in.  the  Continental  Army  be  allowed  the  Pay  andKation* 
of  Captains,  and  have  the  Rank  of  Firll  Lieutenants. 

lit  order  to  prevent  the  Officers  and  Soldiers  who  (Hall  be  entitled  to  the  Lands  hereafter  to  be 
granted  !>y  the  Refolution  ot  Congrefs  of  the  i6th,  from  difpoiing  of  the  fame  during  the  War, 

•  ?  E  u  °hrV  E  D'  Tlm  thili  Con8rtf5  W1"  not  g™nt  Lands  c°  »">  p*r<°"  <>'  P«fon*  claimin2 
under  the  Aflignrrent,  of  an  Officer  or  So!d:er. 

By  OrJer  of  the  CONGRESS, 
JOHN     HANCOCK,     PRESIDENT. 

Resolution  of  Congress  to  enlist  88  battalions. 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


were  to  be  given  to  him,  or  to  his  representa 
tive  if  he  was  "  slain  by  the  enemy  "  before  the 
close  of  the  war.  The  expense  necessary  to  pro 
cure  the  land  was  to  be  borne  by  the  States  in  the 
same  proportion  as  the  other  expenses  of  the  war. 
The  States  were  to  provide  arms,  clothing,  and 
every  necessity,  the  cost  of  the  clothing  to  be  de 
ducted  from  the  pay  of  the  men.1  A  little  later, 
however,  Congress  voted  a  suit  of  clothes  (or  $20 
if  the  soldier  owned  the  clothes)  to  be  given 
annually  as  a  further  inducement.2  Washington 
in  general  orders  November  10,  1776,  announced 
that  those  who  enlisted  into  the  new  army  would 
have  the  usual  pay  and  rations,  but  no  boys  or 
old  men  and  no  deserters  would  be  received.  At 
the  same  time  the  army  regulations  were  repealed 
and  a  more  rigorous  cojie^was  put  in  force  to 
bring  the  service  to  a  higher  standard  of  disci 
pline.3 

The  plan  to  raise  eighty-eight  battalions,  so 
simple  on  paper,  developed  endless  complications. 
The  States,  as  might  be  expected,  found  it  diffi- 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  September  16,  1776. 

*  Ibid.,  October  8,  1776. 

3  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  561.  In  November 
Gates' s  force  numbered  11,526  men  ;  Lee  had  10,768  men. 
{Ibid.,  vol.  3,  cols.  702,  710.)  See  also  W.  Eddis's  Letters 
from  America  (1792),  pp.  342,  343. 

[  49] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

cult  to  fill  their  quotas,  and  they  resorted  to  ad 
ditional  bounties ;  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
voted  2os.  a  month  to  privates  above  that  al 
lowed  by  Congress,  an^l  $33  %  additional  bounty ; 
New  Jersey  offered  $53^3  ;  Maryland  objected 
to  giving  money  in  any  case  and  wished  to  sub 
stitute  land.1  At  a  meeting  of  New  England 
delegates  to  regulate  prices  the  plea  was  made 
that  Congress  would  not  increase  the  pay  of 
soldiers  to  meet  high  prices  and  a  larger  bounty 
was  the  last  resort.  Massachusetts  then  offered 
$86^3,  and  New  Hampshire  did  the  same.  In 
this  confusion  the  bewildered  recruits  stood  ir 
resolute,  hoping  that  bounties  had  but  just  begun 
their  upward  course.  Meanwhile  the  eighty- 
eight  battalions  had  to  be  filled  by  drafts  of  one 
man  in  four  or  five,  excluding,  however,  those 
already  in  service,  those  in  seaboard  or  frontier 
towns,  school-masters,  students,  and  a  portion  of 
those  employed  in  powder-mills.2  The  men  who 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.   5,  pp.   18,  20,  213, 
notes. 

2  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  763.      Many  who  paid 
a  fine  rather  than  go  when  drafted  received  a  receipt  similar  to 
the  following  :   "  Reed   of  Mr.   Caleb  Craft   the  Sum   of  Ten 
Pounds  Lawfull  Money  in  full  for  his  fine  he  Refuseing  to  go 
a  Solder  when  Draughted  by  the  Town." — MS.  in  Brookline 
Public  Library. 

[  So  ] 


Orders  relating  to  private  soldiers. 

Page  from  Washington's  order  book,  Nov.  9,  1776. 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


served  in  the  artillery — known  as  bombardiers  and 
matrosses — held  back  so  persistently  that  Wash 
ington  was  forced  to  offer  an  advance  in  pay  of 
twenty-five  per  cent,  to  obtain  the  necessary 
numbers.1 

The  Continental  army  had  its  first  time  of  se 
rious  privation  in  the  winter  that  was  just  setting 
in ;  the  soldiers  in  the  northern  camps  especially 
deserve  to  share  the  fame  that  came  to  those 
who  suffered  and  survived  at  Valley  Forge  a  year 
later^  A  gentleman,  writing  from  Ticonderoga 
December  4,  1776,  concluded  his  letter  with  the 
words : 

"  For  all  this  Army  at  this  place,  which  did 
consist  of  twelve  or  thirteen  thousand  men,  sick 
and  well,  no  more  than  nine  hundred  pair  of 
shoes  have  been  sent.  One  third  at  least  of  the 
poor  wretches  is  now  barefoot,  and  in  this  con 
dition  obliged  to  do  duty.  This  is  shocking  to 
humanity.  It  cannot  be  viewed  in  any  milder 
light  than  black  murder.  The  poor  creatures  is 
now  (what's  left  alive)  laying  on  the  cold  ground, 
in  poor  thin  tents,  and  some  none  at  all,  and  many 
down  with  the  pleurisy.  No  barracks,  no  hos 
pitals  to  go  in.  The  barracks  i?eat  Saratoga.  If 
you  wJITlere,  your  heart  would  melt.  I  paid  a 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  5,  p.  113. 

[  51  1 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

visit  to  the  sick  yesterday  in  a  small  house  called 
a  hospital.  The  first  object  presented  [to]  my 
eyes,  one  man  laying  dead  at  the  door ;  the  [n] 
inside  two  more  laying  dead,  two  living  lying 
between  them ;  the  living  with  the  dead  had  so 
laid  for  four-and-twenty  hours.  I  went  no  further ; 
this  was  too  much  to  see  and  to  much  to  feel,  /or 
a  heart  with  the  least  tincture  of  humanity."  ^ 

To  Ticonderoga  the  men  had  marched  cheer 
fully,  a  great  part  of  them  barefooted  and  bare 
legged.  In  this  condition  they  were  forced  to 
look  forward  to  sentinel  duty  in  the  snow  of  a 
northern  winter.2VA  British  officer,  in  a  letter 
dated  at  York  Island,  October  30,  1776,  states 
that  "  the  Rebel  army  are  in  so  wretched  a  con 
dition  as  to  clothing  and  accoutrements,  that  I 
believe  no  nation  ever  saw  such  a  set  of  tatter 
demalions.  There  are  few  coats  among  them 
but  what  are  out  at  elbows  and  in  a  whole  reg 
iment  there  is  scarce  a  pair  of  breeches.  Judge 
then  how  they  must  be  pinched  by  a  winter 
campaign."  3 

Such  were  the  hardships  endured  by  the  army; 

1  Jos.  Wood  to  Thomas  Wharton,  Jr. ;  in  American  Archives 
V.,  vol.  3,  col.   1358. 

2  Richard  Stockton,  in  ibid.,  vol.  2,  cols.  1274,  1275. 

3  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.   1293. 

[  52  ] 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


disease  and  cold  thinned  the  ranks  that  had  borne 
the  attack  of  British  infantry .V  So  great  was  the 
demand  for  men  that  not  a  few  deserted  to  reenlist, 
and  the  temptation  increased  with  the  duration 
of  the  war.1  A  punishment  of  a  hundred  lashes 
had  little  effect,  and  in  1778  a  man  was  shot  who 
had  deserted  and  reenlisted  for  the  bounties  seven 
times.2  For  him  there  was  no  semblance  of  ex 
cuse,  but  for  some  who  went  home  without  leave 
a  word  in  extenuation  might  be  said.  They  re 
ceived  few  of  the  blessings,  usually,  that  the  re 
cruiting  officer  held  before  trusting  eyes ;  they 
lived  for  months  without  proper  or  even  decent 
food  and  clothing,  fighting  (in  some  cases)  for  a 
country  that  had  known  them  but  a  few  years 
and  against  friends  and  neighbors  of  their  youth.3 
If  they  had  been  drafted  or  had  been  induced  to 
sign  enlistment  papers  when  dazed  by  liquor, 
their  consciences  did  not  hold  them  to  service  in 
the  army.  Later  on,  an  officer,  after  complaining 
that  the  troops  had  been  for  two  years  without 
clothes  and  pay,  affirmed  that  there  must  have 

1  E.  Wild's  Diary  ;  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Pro 
ceedings,  October,  1890,  p.  93. 

2  Orderly  book  of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p.  9. 

3  Colonel  Richardson  in  September,  1775,  spoke  of  the  need 
of  arms  to  equip  "the  new  Irish  settlers'*  in  South  Carolina. — 
Salley's  Orangeburg  County,  S.  C.,  p.  432. 

[  53  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

been  virtue  in  the  army  when  under  such  cir 
cumstances  there  was  any  army  left.  A  sen 
tence  in  his  diary  which  refers  to  a  practice 
not  uncommon  in  the  early  years  of  the  war 
is  good  enough  to  bear  repeating :  "  This  day 
one  of  our  soldiers  which  deserted  some  time 
ago  deserted  back  again  with  a  new  suit  of 
deaths."1 

Weak  as  the  Continental  army  was  in  the 
autumn  of  1776,  it  undertook  two  important 
duties;  part  of  the  forces  held  the  Hudson  above 
New  York  to  check  any  advance  of  the  British 
toward  Canada  or  New  England ;  another  wing 
of  the  army  kept  to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  to 
guard  the  highways  to  Pennsylvania  and  the  south. 
On  December  22d  (just  before  the  battle  of  Tren 
ton  was  fought)  the  return  of  the  army  then  en 
camped  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  gives  a  total 
of  10,106  men;  of  these  3,357  were  sick,  absent 
on  duty  or  on  furlough,  making  thirty-three  per 
cent,  ineffective.2  It  was  the  current  belief  that 
affairs  had  come  to  a  critical  pass,  requiring  a  suc 
cessful  battle  to  awaken  enthusiasm  and  quicken 

1  W.  McDowell's  Journal ;   in  Pennsylvania  Archives,  second 
series,    vol.   15,  p.  321.       See   also   Army    Correspondence  of 
Colonel  John  Laurens,  p.  139. 

2  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1401. 

[  54  } 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


enlistments  for  the  next  campaign.1  Washington's 
capture  of  nearly  the  whole  British  outpost  at 
Trenton  on  Christmas  night  accomplished  what 
was  needed,  but  in  order  to  follow  up  the  suc 
cess  he  was  driven  to  a  fresh  bounty  of  $10  to 
keep  the  discontented  men  together  for  another 
month. 

The  year  1777,  with  its  defeats  at  the  Brandy- 
wine  and  at  Germantown,  brought  little  cheer  to 
the  main  army  until  the  news  of  Burgoyne's  sur 
render  came  in  October.  Throughout  the  summer 
Washington  never  had  above  1 1,000  Continentals 
and  2,ooo  militia  in  the  field  at  one  time.  At  the 
close  of  July  Congress  abandoned  the  expensive 
and  unsatisfactory  system  of  appointing  army 
officers  as  recruiting  agents ;  the  States  were  to  be 
divided  into  districts,  with  a  local  officer  in  each 
district,  who  was  to  receive  $8  for  every  man  en 
listed  and  $5  for  each  deserter  secured.2  Washing 
ton  expressed  approval  of  an  annual  draft  of  men 
to  fill  the  regiments  that  became  reduced  by  death, 
disease,  or  the  withdrawal  of  those  who  could  not 
be  induced  by  a  bounty  of  $25  to  remain  in  the 
service  beyond  the  term  of  enlistment.3 

1  American  Archives,  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1514. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  6,  p.  7. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  6,  p.  305. 

[  55  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

At  the  beginning  of  autumn  the  army,  number 
ing  some  ten  or  eleven  thousand  men,  marched 
through  Front  Street,  Philadelphia,  on  the  way  to 
check  the  advance  of  General  Howe.  Alexander 
Graydon  stood  at  the  coffee-house  corner  and 
watched  them  pass,  the  Commander-in-chief  and 
his  men.  They  were,  he  says,  indifferently  dressed, 
but  carried  their  well-burnished  arms  like  good 
soldiers  who  might  reasonably  expect  success  in  a 
contest  with  equal  numbers.  They  were  obliged 
to  fall  back  a  few  days  later  before  Knyphausen's 
advance  over  Brandywine  Creek  at  Chadd's  Ford 
and  Cornwallis's  flank  attack  by  way  of  Birming 
ham  church,  greatly  outnumbered  but  not  put  to 
rout.1  General  Howe  occupied  Philadelphia  and 
thus  achieved  one  object  in  the  British  plan  of 
campaign.  While  the  moral  effect  of  this  move 
was  considerable  at  the  time,  Philadelphia  being 
the  great  port  of  trade  of  the  middle  colonies,  and 
a  centre  for  army  supplies  of  all  kinds,  he  had, 
however,  done  little  harm  to  Washington,  and  he 
now  found  that  he  must  divide  his  army  in  order 
to  protect  both  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  To 
put  down  the  rebellion  of  an  agricultural  people, 
scattered  over  a  wide  territory,  by  a  garrison  in 
each  town  would  have  required  more  soldiers  than 

1  Gray  don's  Memoirs,  p.  291. 

[  56  ] 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


England  possessed.  The  other  movement  of  the 
year,  Burgoyne's  attempt  to  isolate  New  England 
by  seizing  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Hudson, 
which  taken  together  formed  a  natural  western 
barrier,  ended  in  his  capitulation. 

Washington  looked  forward  to  winter  quarters 
where  the  men  could  be  near  enough  to  the  scene 
of  action  to  furnish  comfort  to  supporters  of  the 
patriot  cause,  where  they  could  be  drilled  by 
Baron  Steuben,  and  could  be  so  fed  and  protected 
from  the  weather  that  sickness  and  desertion  would 
not  destroy  the  army.  It  seemed  necessary  to  be 
at  least  a  day's  march  from  the  enemy  to  afford 
time  for  defensive  measures  or  for  retreat  in  case 
the  British  made  a  hostile  move.  He  therefore 
withdrew  up  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Schuylkill 
some  miles  to  the  northwest  of  Philadelphia, 
crossed  the  river  on  December  13th  by  two  bridges, 
one  old  and  insecure  and  another  improvised 
from  boats  and  fence-rails,  and  on  the  igth  went 
into  camp  at  Valley  Forge.  By  January  1st 
most  of  the  troops  were  settled  in  huts,  and  they 
soon  began  to  improve  in  discipline  under  the  in 
struction  of  Baron  Steuben,  who  toiled  with  the 
zeal  of  "a  lieutenant  anxious  for  promotion."1 

1  Army  Correspondence  of  Colonel  John  Laurens  (1867), 
pp.  90-97,  100,  152,  1 60,  169. 

[   57  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

The  sufferings  of  the  Continentals  at  Valley  Forge 
during  the  winter  of  1777-78,  without  sufficient 
clothing,  blankets,  or  shoes,  and  much  of  the  time 
destitute  of  proper  food,  are  described  in  a  suc 
ceeding  chapter. 

An  army  of  about  1 7,000  men  had  melted  away, 
until  now,  in  1778,  5,000  ragged  soldiers  remained. 
A  Tory  writer  reported  in  March  that  1,134  de 
serters  had  come  into  Philadelphia  and  taken 
the  oath  of  allegiance?  It  is  worthy  of  notice, 
in  support  of  Washington's  frequent  request  for 
recruits  of  American  birth,  that  just  three-fourths 
of  these  deserters  were  foreign  bornX  The  ef 
fective  force  was  further  decreased  by  the  per 
nicious  habit  of  employing  privates  as  officers' 
servants.  Steuben  has  mentioned  as  an  illustra 
tion  of  the  system  a  certain  company  which  had 
"  twelve  men  present ;  absent,  one  man  as  valet 
to  the  commissary,  two  hundred  miles  distant 
from  the  army,  for  eighteen  months;  one  man 
valet  to  a  quartermaster  attached  to  the  army  of 
the  north,  for  twelve  months ;  four  in  the  differ 
ent  hospitals  for  so  many  months ;  two  as  driv 
ers  of  carriages;  and  so  many  more  as  bakers, 
blacksmiths,  carpenters,  even  as  coal-porters,  for 
years  together."  These  men,  once  on  the  rolls, 
Joseph  Galloway.  Stevens' s  Facsimiles,  No.  2094. 

t  ss  ] 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


were  reported  regularly  as  part  of  the  effective 
force.1 

/  With  the  opening  of  the  spring  campaign  Con 
gress  called  upon  the  States  to  maintain  their 
quotas,2  and  in  May  resolved  to  grant  $80  at  the 
end  of  the  war  to  every  non-commissioned  officer 
and  private  who  had  enlisted  or  would  enlist  for 
or  during  the  contest.3  In  August  it  was  reported 
that  "  a  great  spirit  of  inlisting  "  had  taken  place 
among  the  militia  drafo.4  A  proposition  to  pay 
part  of  the  usual  bounty  of  $20  in  specie  instead 
of  bills  would  have  helped  the  movement  along, 
but  on  a  vote  it  was  lost,  and  an  appropriation  of 
$120,000  in  Continental  money  was  madef  The 

1  Kapp's    Steuben,    p.   116.      Also  Baron  de  Kalb's  views; 
Stevens's  Facsimiles,  No.  761. 

2  See  table,  p.  48,  note.      Rhode  Island  was  to  furnish  I  bat 
talion,  New  York  5,  and  Pennsylvania  10  ;  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  were   omitted. — Journals  of  Congress,   February   26, 
1778. 

3  Ibid.,  May  15,  1778. 

4  No  soldier  in  the  infantry  battalions  could — by  a  resolve  of 
August  3  i,  1778 — enlist  outside  the  battalions  credited  to  the 
State  for  which  he  had  enlisted  as  a  militiaman. 

5  The  establishment  of  1778  allowed  to  each  battalion  of  in 
fantry  477    privates  with  pay  at  $6^/3   per  month  ;  artillery, 
336   matrosses   at   $8y$   per   month  ;  cavalry,    324   dragoons, 
$8^3  per  month  ;  provost,  43   provosts  or  privates,  $8^/3   per 
month  ;   three  companies  in  the  engineering  department,  each  to 
have  sixty  privates  at  $8  y$   per  month   (Journals  of  Congress 

[  59  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

much  -  desired  consummation  of  treaties  with 
France  was  hailed  with  celebrations  in  the  army, 
and  the  virtual  victory  at  Monmouth  following 
Clinton's  evacuation  of  Philadelphia  served  in 
a  sense  to  offset  the  loss  of  Savannah,  which 
was  not  known  in  camp  until  the  new  year 
came  in. 

The  opening  weeks  of  1779  disclosed  con 
ditions  that  might  well  have  discouraged  Wash 
ington  himself.  Congress  authorized  him  to 
offer  a  bounty  not  to  exceed  $200  (in  ad 
dition  to  the  usual  bounties  of  clothing,  and, 
at  the  expiration  of  the  war,  of  land  and 
money)  to  be  given  to  each  man  engaged  for 
the  war.1  Later,  where  the  bounty  offered  by  a 
State  exceeded  $200,  this  sum  was  ordered  to  be 
put  to  the  State's  credit  for  each  recruit  furnished, 
to  prevent  the  jealousies  that  might  otherwise 
arise  from  too  great  inequality  in  the  amount  of 

May  27,  1778).  A  regiment  of  infantry  had  I  colonel  (who 
was  also  a  captain),  I  lieutenant-colonel  (also  captain),  i  major 
(also  captain),  6  captains,  paymaster,  adjutant,  quartermaster, 
I  surgeon,  I  surgeon's  mate,  8  lieutenants,  9  ensigns,  I  ser 
geant-major,  I  quartermaster-sergeant,  27  sergeants,  I  captain- 
lieutenant  (over  the  colonel's  company),  I  drum-major,  I  fife- 
major,  1 8  drums  and  fifes,  27  corporals,  477  privates:  in  all 

585. 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  January  23,  1779. 

60 


FIFTY  DOLLARS 


Paper  currency,   1776,   1778. 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


bounty  to  be  had  when  the  national  and  local 
bounties  were  combined.1  Washington  already 
began  to  fear  that  the  enlistments  would  prove  a 
failure  unless  the  State  rivalry  in  offering  large 
bounties  was  brought  to  an  end.  New  Jersey 
offered  $250  over  and  above  the  bounty  voted  by 
Congress;  Georgia  offered  $300,  and  Virginia 
promised  clothes,  land,  and  $750  to  recruits.2 
Naturally  these  sums,  in  spite  of  the  depreciation 
in  paper  bills,  made  the  soldiers  who  had  enlisted 
earlier  to  serve  for  the  whole  war  uneasy  and 
vexed  that  they  had  accepted  a  paltry  $20.  Con 
gress  perceived  this  and  allowed  $100  to  each 
man  who  had  enlisted  for  the  war  previous  to 
January  23,  lyyg.3 

"  You  may,"  wrote  the  Commander-in-chief  in 
July,  "form  a  pretty  good  judgment  of  my  prospect 
of  a  brilliant  campaign,  and  of  the  figure  I  shall 
cut  in  it,  when  I  inform  you,  that,  excepting  about 
400  recruits  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts  (a 
portion  of  which  I  am  told  are  children,  hired  at 
about  1 500  dollars  each  for  9  months'  service),  I 
have  had  no  reinforcements  to  this  army  since  last 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  March  9,  1779.      There  were  to  be 
eighty  battalions  of  infantry. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  7,  pp.  364-366. 

3  Journals  of  Congress,  June  22,  1779. 

[  61  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

campaign."  *  Some  months  earlier  the  Baron  de 
Kalb  had  said  that  so  long  as  the  substitutes  hired 
by  rich  citizens  for  the  militia  could  get  enormous 
bounties  for  a  "two  months'  walk" — as  the  short 
enlistment  was  called — there  was  no  hope  for  the 
regular  regiments.2 

In  October  Washington's  force  engaged  for  the 
war  amounted  to  14,998  men;  to  these  must  be 
added  12,101  men  engaged  for  short  periods, 
making  in  all  27,099,  of  whom  410  were  inva 
lids.3  In  the  meantime  the  towns  throughout 
the  country  were  approaching  the  end  of  their  re 
sources  in  their  ability  to  furnish  recruits.  Town 
meeting  followed  town  meeting  to  fill  quotas  of 
men  and  provide  beef,  clothing,  and  fire-arms. 
Training-bands  and  alarm-lists  were  scrutinized 
for  recruits,  and  at  meetings  attendance  was  se 
cured  by  a  threat  to  draft  first  from  those  who  re 
mained  away  from  these  deliberations.4  In  Mas 
sachusetts,  which  still  furnished  nearly  a  fifth  of 
the  infantry  battalions,  the  towns  finally  were 
divided  into  as  many  classes  as  there  were  men  to 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  7,  p.  505. 
2De  Kalb  to  De  Broglie,  December,  1777  ;  Stevens' s    Fac 
similes,  No.  761. 

3 Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  8,  p.  in. 
4Parmenter's  Pelham,  pp.   142-148. 

[  62  ] 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


be  raised,  each  class  to  furnish  and  pay  for  a  man, 
or  pay  the  average  price  paid  for  Continental  sol 
diers,  with  twenty-five  per  cent,  added.1  Some 
what  earlier,  in  Connecticut,  any  two  men  were 
exempted  from  draft  so  long  as  they  could  keep 
a  recruit  in  the  field — a  practice  that  led  to  the 
employment  of  negroes  and  lowered  the  grade  of 
recruits.2 

The  success  of  the  recruiting  service  varied  ac 
cording  to  local  conditions,  and  particularly  where 
the  people  were  influenced  by  frequent  reports 
from  the  army.  Rivingtoris  Gazette,  April  17, 
1779,  stated  that  the  rebels,  who  were  fed  with 
putrid  salt  beef  and  wretched  whiskey,  were  ready 
to  desert  from  a  service  which  they  despised  and 
detested;  while  the  New  Hampshire  Gazette  ten 
days  later  reported  that  there  was  a  great  eagerness 
to  enlist,  that  nine-tenths  of  the  southern  forces, 
being  pleased  with  their  food  and  their  superior 
clothing,  had  reenh'sted.  Nearly  all  newspaper 
statements  of  the  time  were  more  or  less  inaccu 
rate  and  intemperate ;  and  the  information  made 
public  by  British  and  American  editors,  and  par- 

1  Resolves  General    Court   of   Massachusetts,    February    26, 
1781  ;  Town  Records  Pelham,  Brookline,  etc. 

2  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  August,  1862, 
p.   198. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

ticularly  the  loyalist  editors,  was  colored  beyond 
recognition. 

For  several  years  Indians  and  Tories  from  the 
lake  region  in  central  New  York  had  harried  the 
frontier  settlements  in  Washington's  rear.  The 
Indians  kept  under  cultivation  some  20,000 
acres  of  corn  and  thousands  of  fruit-trees,  in 
habiting  the  rich  lands  from  Lake  Ontario  at  the 
north  to  Tioga  Point,  the  meeting-place  of  the 
Chemung  River  with  the  Susquehanna,  just  within 
the  bounds  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  south.  In 
the  summer  of  1779  General  James  Clinton  started 
from  Schenectady  by  way  of  Otsego  Lake  and  its 
outlet  the  upper  Susquehanna  to  meet  General 
John  Sullivan,  who  marched  northward  from 
Easton  along  the  Lehigh  River  and  the  lower  Sus 
quehanna.  They  joined  forces  at  Tioga  Point, 
and  late  in  August  drove  the  British  and  their 
savage  allies  from  their  stronghold  on  the  Che 
mung,  near  the  present  city  of  Elmira.  The  dev 
astation  which  followed  put  an  end  to  the  great 
Indian  highway  between  Canada  and  the  Chesa 
peake,  dispersed  the  enemy  that  menaced  Wash 
ington  in  the  rear,  and  left  him  free  to  face  Sir 
Henry  Clinton's  army.1 

1  See  Chapter  IX.  ;  also  W.  E.  Griffis  in  New  England  Mag 
azine,  December,  1900. 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


A  careful  French  resume  of  the  situation  con 
cludes  with  the  opinion  that  affairs  were  alarm 
ing  but  not  desperate  in  the  autumn  of  1779* 
that  the  country,  like  a  convalescent,  needed  nour 
ishment  rather  than  medicine,  and  a  careful  nurse 
rather  than  a  physician.1 

/*CThe  year  1 780,  with  the  loss  of  Charleston,  the 
defeat  at  Camden,  and  the  treason  of  Arnold, 
seemed  to  portend  surrender  at  last.  But  forces 
were  at  work  that  were  to  outweigh  them  all  in 
the  fortunes  of  war^  in  France  the  colonies  grew 
in  favor,  and  the  French  fleet  appeared  upon  the 
American  coast ;  in  England,  now  at  war  with 
France  and  Spain,  the  King's  policy  was  about 
to  add  Holland  to  the  circle  of  her  enemies ; 
while  in  the  colonies  the  Continentals,  under  the 
eye  of  that  indefatigable  disciplinarian,  the  Baron 
Steuben,  grew  into  an  army  of  hardy,  patient,  and 
obedient  soldiers.2  There  were  10,400  rank  and 
file  that  spring  on  the  North  River  to  oppose  a 
British  force  of  11,000.  Washington  asked  for 
fifty  regiments  or  35,850  men.8  Congress  had 

1Stevens's  Facsimiles,  No.  1616. 

2/^/V.,  Nos.  1627,  1632. 

3  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  8,  p.  235;  ibid., 
vol.  8,  p.  487  ;  Journals  of  Congress,  October  3,  21,  1780 
(change  in  regiments). 

[65  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

already  lost  much  of  the  prestige  which  made  its 
wish  effective  in  1775,  and  as  it  had  ceased  to 
exercise  the  right  to  issue  paper  money,  it  could 
"  neither  enlist,  pay,  nor  feed  a  single  soldier ;  " 
the  Commander  was  obliged  to  rely  largely  upon 
his  own  efforts  to  rouse  the  country.1  Had  Con 
gress  supported  with  courage  despotic  laws  similar 
to  those  enacted  eighty-four  years  later  by  the 
Confederate  Congress  it  is  possible  that  the  people 
would  have  held  that  the  occasion  justified  the 
action.  To  enlarge  its  force  in  the  field  the 
Confederacy  employed  free  negroes  and  slaves  in 
every  position  at  home  and  in  camp  where  a 
white  man  could  thereby  be  released  for  army 
duty.  By  an  act  of  February  17,  1864,  every 
white  resident  between  the  ages  of  seventeen  and 
fifty  became  at  its  passage  a  part  of  the  military 
service  of  the  Confederate  States  until  the  end  of 
the  war. 

y'The  condition  of  Washington's  army  in  the 
autumn  of  1780  was  so  disheartening  that  a  hos 
tile  observer  could  hardly  over-color  the  picture 
of  ragged,  half-fed  battalions,  thinned  by  deser 
tion,  disease,  and  expirations  of  terms  of  service. 
Benedict  Arnold,  the  traitor  of  less  than  two 

1  Madison  to  Jefferson,  May  6,  1780  ;  in  his  Writings  (Hunt), 
vol.  i,  p.  63. 

[  66  ] 


FOR  tfie  Facou&gemene  of    thok1  tfiat  fhall   Tnlifl; 
the    Committal    Army— ^The   CONGRESS   in 


n 


their  Refok'cs  okjhpiember  16^,  i8//6, 
Sfbt  and  -Noverimer  i2tbt  1776, 


T 


HAT 

fioncd  OfficctNnd 
of  Threj:  Years, 

That  .each ^  Von-Coftmi 
receive   a  Suit  of  Cloathj, 
Hun  ing  Shirts,  Two  Pair 
Sleeves,  One  Pair  of" 
of  Hofe,  and  Two  Pair  of 


Qttober 


be  given  as  a   Bounty  ta  each  Nan-Commit  .;- 
rate  Soldier  who  fh<»ll  Inlift  to  Icrve  for  the  Term  ' 

)ned   Officer  and  private  Soldier  fliall  anouaHy '  I 
corifift  for  the  prefenc  Year,  of  Two  Linnen 
Jveralls,  a  Leachera  or  Wookn  Waiftcoac  with  U 
a  Hat  or  Leather  Cap,  Twdj  Shirks,  Two  Pair 


,  amounting  in  the  whole  to- the  Value  of 

twenty  Dollar^  or  that  SuJ^tO  be  paid  to  each  Soldier  *?h^  f)iiS  procure 
thofe  Articles  for  himfelf,  an<[  produces  a, Certificate  thereolfrom  the  Captaia 
of  the  Company  to  whi«h  he 

That  each  Nort-Commiffi 
and  engage  to  continue  in  t 
charged  by  CoNeasss,  fhaJi 

ONE  HUNDRED  ACR  _ 

ihall  be  latkled  to  the  aforefaid  iiun- 


elongs,  to  the  Pay-Maftw  of  the  Regiment 

OfHcer  and  private  Soldier  whc  fell  Inlift 
to  the  Clofe  of  th«*  War^  or  until  dif- 
tva  in  Addition  to  the^abovl  Eacoor^ge- 
OF  LAND,  arid  if  any  are1  Slain  by  theKtfe» 


itiy,  the  Reprefentatiyes  of  ft 
jdred  Acres  of'  Land. 

And  foriheir  further  Encouhsgeuaent,  the  State  tff  Mafoebttfetts-Bay,  ha^ 
^  ajpfefolve  of  November  2^^*»  engaged  i 

That  each  Non  Cornmir|Dn\2  Officer.and  pnyafe  'ibid  ie^ho  (hall  Inlift 
into  the  Cofl?in«[ua!  Army»nejt!ler  during  the  Wai8,  or  for  theTe«n  of  Three 
' 


5*ears»-vM  ''P*t  o^i1?6  QtyitaoyMeh  affigned  this  State,  the  Sam  ef 
Ptunds  on  his  pafijng  Mud  en,  t^f  (Sid  twenty  Poartds  to-be  ^id  in  Treafur- 
er'«  Notes  of-  Ten  Pounds  ea?h,  |fejab!e''t&*<:he  Poffeflbr  in  Four  Years;  with 
Intercft  to  be  paid  annually,  at  the  Rate  of  Six  $tr  Cent, 

In  the  faufe  of  REPR  £fS  £N%4  TltfE  S,  Diw.    *V77<v  , 
THE  foregoing  Extrafli^crc'  Read  and  (^redto  be  Printed." 
.JAMES  BARREN  f;:  Speaker.- 


Enlistment  broadside. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library.) 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


weeks'  standing  under  His  Majesty's  protection, 
has  described  the  army  of  11,400  men,  half  of 
whom,  the  militia,  would  return  to  their  homes 
on  January  1st.  These  men,  "  illy  clad,  badly 
fed,  and  worse  paid,  having  in  general  two  or 
three  years'  pay  due  to  them,"  were  the  result 
of  an  appeal  for  35,000  soldiers  who  were  to 
drive  Sir  Henry  Clinton  out  of  New  York  and 
end  the  war.  The  public  debt,  he  added,  amount 
ed  to  400,000,000  paper  dollars ;  and  Congress, 
jealous  of  the  army  and  powerless  over  the  States, 
could  do  little.  Provisions  were  of  necessity 
taken  from  the  people  and  this  swelled  the  tide 
of  discontent.  Arnold's  picture  of  the  army  was 
drawn  from  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  scarcely 
inferior  to  Washington's  own.1  The  mutiny  of 
the  Pennsylvania  line  at  the  beginning  of  the 
new  year  resulted  naturally  from  these  conditions:! 

A  plan  for  the  reduction  of  the  regular  army 
after  January  1,  1781,  to  four  regiments  of  dra 
goons  or  cavalry,  four  of  artillery,  forty-nine  of 
infantry  (with  612  men  in  each),  exclusive  of 
Colonel  Hazen's  regiment,  Colonel  Armand's 
partisan  corps,  Major  Lee's  corps,  and  one  regi- 

1  Benedict  Arnold's  Present  State  of  the  American  Rebel 
Army  (Winno wings  in  American  History  ;  Revolutionary  nar 
ratives,  No.  5). 

[67] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

ment  of  artificers,1  was  approved  by  Congress  in 
October,  1780;  little  was  accomplished  in  this 
direction  until  near  the  end  of  the  war. 

Morgan's  victory  over  Tarleton  at  the  Cow- 
pens  in  January,  1781,  was  followed  by  the  de 
feat  of  Greene  at  Guilford,  Hobkirk's  Hill,  and 
Eutaw  Springs.  But  these  seemingly  unfortu 
nate  incidents  in  Greene's  masterly  Southern 
Campaign  were  soon  to  be  overshadowed  by  the 
siege  of  Lord  Cornwallis's  army  at  Yorktown, 

journals  of  Congress,  October  3,  21,  1780.  The  quotas 
were  :  New  Hampshire  :  two  regiments  of  infantry.  Massachu 
setts  :  ten  of  infantry,  one  of  artillery.  Rhode  Island  :  one  of  in 
fantry.  Connecticut  :  five  of  infantry,  one  of  cavalry.  New 
York  :  two  of  infantry,  one  of  artillery.  New  Jersey  :  two  of 
infantry.  Pennsylvania  :  six  of  infantry,  one  of  artillery,  one  of 
cavalry,  one  of  artificers.  Delaware  :  one  of  infantry.  Mary 
land  :  five  of  infantry.  Virginia  :  eight  of  infantry,  one  of 
artillery,  two  of  cavalry.  North  Carolina  :  four  of  infantry. 
South  Carolina  :  two  of  infantry.  Georgia  :  one  of  infantry. 
Every  recruit  enlisted  for  the  war  was  to  receive  a  sum  not  ex 
ceeding  $50.  All  the  foreigners  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  were  brought  together  in  Colonel  Hazen's  regiment. 
August  7,  1782,  the  Secretary  of  War  was  instructed  by  Con 
gress  to  see  that  each  regiment  was  completed  to  not  less  than 
500  rank  and  file,  and  that  the  reduction  in  the  number  of  reg 
iments  ordered  in  1780  was  carried  out.  Such  of  the  sixteen 
additional  regiments  as  were  not  annexed  to  the  line  of  their 
particular  states  and  all  separate  light  corps  and  the  German  bat 
talion  were  to  be  struck  from  the  establishment. 
[  68  ] 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


and  the  surrender  which  came  in  October.  The 
cessation  of  active  hostilities  was  very  welcome  to 
America,  although  defensive  measures  were  by 
no  means  exhausted.  Washington  and  Greene 
had  come  to  know  the  strategic  possibilities  of 
the  country  which  lies  between  the  mountains 
and  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  broad  rivers  that 
everywhere  flow  southerly  and  easterly  to  the  sea 
formed  barriers,  and  the  long  stretches  of  sparsely 
inhabited  country  seriously  hindered  the  opera 
tions  of  an  invading  commander  who  struck  in 
land  for  any  distance  from  his  ships.  While  the 
struggle  was  waged  now  in  the  eastern,  now  in  the 
central,  now  in  the  southern  colonies,  great  tracts 
of  land  could  be  cultivated  in  comparative  peace, 
regardless  of  a  depreciating  currency,  an  anxious 
Congress,  or  a  ragged  army.  The  recruiting 
officer  was  the  only  reminder  of  strife  that  came 
into  many  a  quiet  cabin  in  the  forest  clearing.1 
With  the  seed  planted  or  the  grain  gathered 
men  were  ready  to  shoulder  their  muskets  for  a 
short  campaign,  just  as  the  Scotch  Highlanders 
waited  for  the  autumn  harvests  before  raiding  the 
lowlands. 

In  the,  spring  of  1782  the  British  House  of 
Commons  declared  that  all  who  should  advise 

1  Charming' s  United  States  (New  York,  1896),  pp.  77-79. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  further  prosecution  of  offensive  war  in  Amer 
ica  would  be  considered  as  enemies  to  his  Maj 
esty  and  the  country.  The  Continental  military 
establishment  at  this  time  was  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  35,000  men,  with  an  effective  French 
force  of  4,000  troops.  The  British  establishment, 
including  detachments  at  Charleston,  Savannah, 
Halifax,  on  the  Penobscot  and  in  Canada,  with 
the  militia  at  New  York,  was  supposed  to  be 
about  26,000  men^VOThe  resignation  of  Lord 
North  in  March  and  the  signing  of  preliminary 
articles  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  in  November  prepared  the  way  for  a  ces* 
sation  of  hostilities  early  in  1783.^  On  April  igth 
peace  was  announced  to  the  soldiers  by  Wash 
ington. 

The  days  of  trial  were  over  for  the  army  which, 
in  the  Commander's  words,  was  of  nearly  eight 
years'  standing./  Six  years  they  had  spent  in  the 
field  without  any  other  shelter  from  the  inclem 
ency  of  the  seasons  than  tents,  or  such  houses  as 
they  could  build  for  themselves  without  expense 
to  the  public.  They  had  encountered  hunger, 
cold,  and  nakedness.  They  had  fought  many 
battles  and  bled  freely.  They  had  lived  without 
pay,  and  in  consequence  of  it,  officers  as  well  as 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  9,  p.  468. 

[  70  i 


Maintaining  the  Forces 


men  had  subsisted  upon  their  rations.  They  had 
often,  very  often,  been  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  eating  salt  pork,  or  beef,  not  for  a  day  or  a 
week  only,  but  for  months  together,  without  veg 
etables  or  money  to  buy  them.1 

During  these  eight  dark  years  the  officers  and 
men  who  served  under  Washington  grew  more 
and  more  to  know  that  a  great  man  led  them. 
In  correspondence,  in  journals,  and  in  the  conver 
sation  of  visitors  who  had  come  from  Europe,  the 
Commander  of  the  Continental  Army  was  men 
tioned  with  a  regard  rarely  if  ever  before  bestowed 
during  life  upon  the  central  figure  of  a  bitter  war 
for  independence.  His  letters  were  preserved  by 
the  families  of  British  officers ; 2  and  the  British 
historian,  John  Richard  Green,  with  rare  compre 
hension  of  his  character,  has  said  of  him :  "  No 
nobler  figure  ever  stood  in  the  forefront  of  a  na 
tion's  life.  Washington  was  grave  and  courteous 
in  address ;  his  manners  were  simple  and  unpre 
tending;  his  silence  and  the  serene  calmness  of 
his  temper  spoke  of  a  perfect  self-mastery.  .  .  . 
It  was  only  as  the  weary  fight  went  on  that  the 
colonists  discovered,  however  slowly  and  im- 

1  From  Washington's  words,  in  his  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  10, 
p.  204. 

2De  Fonblanque's  Burgoyne  (1876),  p.  329,  note. 

[  71  ] 


Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

perfectly,  the  greatness  of  their  leader,  his  clear 
judgment,  his  heroic  endurance,  his  silence  under 
difficulties,  his  calmness  in  the  hour  of  danger  or 
defeat,  the  patience  with  which  he  waited,  the 
quickness  and  hardness  with  which  he  struck,  the 
lofty  and  serene  sense  of  duty  that  never  swerved 
from  its  task  through  resentment  or  jealousy,  that 
never  through  war  or  peace  felt  the  touch  of  a 
meaner  ambition,  that  knew  no  aim  save  that  of 
guarding  the  freedom  of  his  fellow-countrymen, 
and  no  personal  longing  save  that  of  returning  to 
his  own  fireside  when  their  freedom  was  secured. 
It  was  almost  unconsciously  that  men  learned  to 
cling  to  Washington  with  a  trust  and  faith  such 
as  few  other  men  have  won,  and  to  regard  him 
with  a  reverence  which  still  hushes  us  in  pres 
ence  of  his  memory  .^* 

Green's  History  of  the  English  People  (New  York,  1880), 
vol.  4,  pp.  254,  255  (Book  IX.,  chapter  ii.). 


Ill 

Material  Needs 

A  COLUMN  of  infantry  in  a  country  high 
way,  giving  a  touch  of  color  and  life  to 
the  landscape,  might  well  fire  the  pulse 
of  any  lad;  and  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution 
the  glamour  of  military  service,  supplementing 
as  it  did  the  patriotic  spirit,  caused  the  volunteer 
army  about  Boston  to  increase  in  numbers  from 
day  to  day,  coming  from  the  hills  and  plains,  until 
the  British  looked  out  upon  a  besieging  camp. 
But  experience,  as  it  ever  does,  cooled  the  pulse 
and  cleared  the  brain ;  then  the  country  boy 
began  to  examine  the  soldier's  knapsack  and 
the  size  of  his  blanket.1  Washington  shows  in 
his  Revolutionary  correspondence  that  he  knew 
these  simple  things,  and  when  mutiny  and  de 
sertion  alarmed  the  colonies  he  sought  the  only 
permanent  remedy — a  greater  degree  of  comfort 
for  his  men. 

1  Dr.    A.    Waldo's    Diary;    in    Historical    Magazine,    May, 
1861,  p.    130. 

[  73  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

The  soldier's  bed  was  often  under  the  stars  of 
heaven  or  the  clouds  of  a  threatening  storm.  If 
he  was  fortunate  enough  to  possess  a  tent  he 
fared  better,  but  did  not  always  escape  the  rain. 
The  conversation  recorded  by  a  Connecticut  sur 
geon  expresses  a  condition  which  was  far  too 
frequent. 

"  Good  -  morning,  brother  soldier,  how  are 
you?" 

"  All  wet,  I  thank  5e,"  says  the  other ;  "  hope 
you  are  so."1 

When  the  sun  reappeared  after  a  storm,  tents 
were  struck  for  a  few  hours  to  let  the  ground  dry, 
and  were  pitched  again  at  nightfall.2  Few  troops 
had  suitable  covering  at  the  camp  in  Cambridge 
in  1 775,  except  the  troops  from  Rhode  Island ; 
their  tents  were,  according  to  Rev.  Mr.  Emerson, 
"in  the  most  exact  English  style."  \  For  the  most 
part  the  shelters  were  as  dissimilar  in  form  as  the 
men  were  in  dress,  and  each  one  was  somewhat  of 
an  index  to  the  character  of  its  owner ;  some  were 
of  boards,  and  others  of  sail-cloth,  some  a  combi- 

JDr.    A.    Waldo's   Diary;    in    Historical    Magazine,    May, 
1861,  p.  132. 

2  Orderly  book,    Pennsylvania   State   Regiment,  Pennsylvania 
Magazine,  January,  1899,  p.  477. 

3  Washington's   Writings    (Sparks),  vol.    3,  p.  491.      MS. 
letter  quoted. 

[74] 


Material  Needs 


nation  of  both,  while  stones,  brush,  and  turf  were 
forced  into  serviced* 

Huts  built  of  fence-rails,  sod,  and  straw  could 
not  be  moved  to  dry  or  clear  the  ground,  but 
they  were  in  winter  warmer  than  tents.2  Boards 
were  used  for  floors  when  they  were  to  be  had, 
and  also  for  the  construction  of  the  huts  if  there 
was  a  saw-mill  near  the  camp;  otherwise  logs 
did  duty,  as  in  pioneer  days,  with  the  interstices 
filled  with  clay,  moss,  or  straw.3  Each  hut  was 
supposed  to  have  two  windows;  it  could  be  built 
in  about  two  weeks,  and  the  company  officers  not 
infrequently  lent  a  hand.4  In  rude  cabins  like 
these,  arranged  in  lines  which  extended  back 
from  the  Schuylkill  about  one  and  a  half  miles,5 
the  greater  part  of  Washington's  army  passed 
the  winter  months  at  Valley  Forge,  beset  from 

1  Washington's    Writings    (Sparks),    vol.    3,    p.    492.      In 
October,  1776,  "country  linen   fit  for   tents,"  a   yard  wide, 
sold  for  three  shillings  and  sixpence  a  yard.      Twenty-one  and 
a   half  yards  were    required  to   make    a    tent   for  six  men. — 
American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  988. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  2,  col.  610. 

3T.  Anburey's  Travels,  vol.  2,  p.  294. 

4  Washington's    Revolutionary    Orders    (Whiting),   p.    86, 
May   14,  1778.      Dr.    Waldo's  Diary,    Historical   Magazine, 
May,  1861,  p.  133. 

5  T.  Blake's  Journal,  in  Kidder's  First  New  Hampshire  Reg 
iment,  p.  40. 

[  75  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

without  by  sleet  and  wind,  from  within  by  heat 
and  smoke,  until  the  eyes  of  the  men  smarted 
almost  beyond  endurance.1 

^\The  situation  of  the  camp  had  much  to  do 
with  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  men.  Five 
sarcastic  reasons  for  the  selection  of  Valley  Forge 
as  a  place  in  which  to  pass  the  winter  of  1777- 
78  are  worthy  of  record : 

ist.   There  is  plenty  of  wood  &  water. 
2dly.  There  are  but  few  families  for  the  soldiery  to 
steal  from — tho'  far  be  it  from  a  soldier  to  steal — 

1  The  following  lines,  written  by  Dr.  Waldo  at  Valley  Forge, 
April  26,  1778,  describe  a  rather  better  hut  than  those  used  by 
the  privates  : 

Of  pondrous  logs 

Whose  bulk  disdains  the  winds  or  fogs 
The  sides  and  ends  are  fitly  raised 
And  by  dove-tail  each  corner's  brac'd  : 
Athwart  the  roof,  young  saplings  lie 
Which  fire  and  smoke  has  now  made  dry — 
Next,  straw  wraps  o'er  the  tender  pole, 
Next  earth,  then  splints  o'erlay  the  whole  ; 
Although  it  leaks  when  show'rs  are  o'er, 
It  did  not  leak  two  hours  before. 
Two  chimneys  plac'd  at  op' site  angles 
Keep  smoke  from  causing  oaths  and  wrangles. 

Three  windows,  placed  all  in  sight, 
Through  oiled  paper  give  us  light  ; 
One  door,  on  wooden  hinges  hung, 
Lets  in  the  friend,  or  sickly  throng. 
— Historical  Magazine,  September,  1863,  p.  270. 

[  76  ] 


Material  Needs 


[3dly  not  given.] 

4ly.  There  are  warm  sides  of  hills  to  erect  huts  on. 

5ly.  They  will  be  heavenly  minded  like  Jonah 
when  in  the  belly  of  a  great  Fish. 

61y.  They  will  not  become  home  sick  as  is  some 
times  the  case  when  men  live  in  the  open  world 
— since  the  reflections  which  must  naturally 
arise  from  their  present  habitation,  will  lead 
them  to  the  more  noble  thoughts  of  employing 
their  leisure  hours  in  filling  their  knapsacks  with 
such  materials  as  may  be  necessary  on  the  Jor- 
ney  to  another  Home.1 

Dressing  and  the  morning  meal  were  events 
which  varied  in  importance,  for  at  times  there 
was  little  to  wear  and  less  to  eat.  In  the  cam 
paign  about  Whitemarsh,  in  December,  1777,  a 
soldier  remarked :  "  We  had  no  tents,  nor  ani- 
thing  to  Cook  our  Provisions  in,  and  that  was 
Prity  Poor,  for  beef  was  very  leen  and  no  salt, 
nor  any  way  to  Cook  it  but  to  throw  it  on  the 
Coles  and  brile  it;  and  the  warter  we  had  to 
Drink  and  to  mix  our  flower  with  was  out  of  a 
brook  that  run  along  by  the  Camps,  and  so  many 
a  dippin  and  washin  [in]  it  which  maid  it  very 
Dirty  and  muddy."  3 

1  Dr.  Waldo's  Diary,  Historical  Magazine,  May,  1861,  p. 

I3l' 

2  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  p.  7. 

[77] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

The  cooking  was  often  done  by  soldiers  from 
each  company,  for  men  who  had  skill  in  any 
direction  were  soon  called  upon  to  perform 
special  service.  "  Nothing  remarkable  this  day," 
a  private  relates,  "onely  I  was  chose  cook  for 
our  room  consisting  of  12  men,  and  a  hard 
game  too." ]  Sometimes  there  were  no  more 
than  two  kettles  in  which  to  prepare  the  meals 
for  a  company ;  the  meat  was  broiled  over  the 
fire,  spitted  on  a  bayonet,  and  the  bread  was 
baked  in  the  hot  ashes.2  The  men  counted 
themselves  fortunate  if  they  could  dine  in  peace ; 
at  the  siege  of  Boston  a  man  was  quietly  eating 
his  bread  and  milk  when  a  cannon-ball  struck 
near  by  and  so  covered  the  bowl  with  flying  dirt 
that  he  could  eat  no  more.3 

The  following  daily  allowance  or  ration  was 
authorized  by  the  third  Provincial  Congress, 
June  10,  1775: 

1.  One  pound  of  bread. 

2.  Half  a  pound  of  beef  and  half  a  pound  of  pork  ; 
and   if  pork   cannot   be  had,  one  pound   and  a 

1  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  79  (references 
are  to  that  by  S.  Haws). 

2  E.  Wild's  Journal,  p.  29  ;   same  in  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.   104. 

3  Rev.    B.    Boardman's   Diary,  Massachusetts   Historical   So 
ciety  Proceedings,  May,  1892,  p.  406. 

[  78] 


Material  Needs 


quarter  of  beef;  and  one  day  in  seven  they  shall 
have  one  pound  and  one  quarter  of  salt  fish,  in 
stead  of  one  day's  allowance  of  meat. 

3.  One   pint  of  milk,  or,  if  milk  cannot   be  had, 
one  gill  of  rice. 

4.  One  quart  of  good  spruce  or  malt  beer. 

5.  One  gill  of  peas  or  beans,  or  other  sauce  equiv 
alent. 

6.  Six  ounces  of  good  butter  per  week. 

7.  One  pound  of  good  common  soap  for  six  men 
per  week. 

8.  Half  a  pint  of  vinegar  per  week  per  man,  if  it 
can  be  had.1 

During  the  siege  of  Boston  all  allowances  for 
the  week  were  delivered  on  Wednesday  unless 

^Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  (Lincoln),  pp.  317, 
318.  In  August,  1775,  each  soldier  was  granted  I  pound 
of  fresh  beef  or  ^  pound  of  pork,  or  I  pound  of  salt  fish 
per  diem  ;  I  pound  of  bread  or  flour  per  diem  ;  3  pints  of 
peas  or  beans  per  week,  or  vegetables  equivalent  at  5  shillings 
sterling  per  bushel  for  peas  or  beans  ;  I  pint  of  milk  per  diem 
per  man,  when  to  be  had  ;  y£  pint  of  rice,  or  I  pint  of  Indian 
meal,  per  man  per  week  ;  I  quart  of  spruce  beer  per  man  per 
diem,  or  9  gallons  of  molasses  per  company  of  100  men;  3 
pounds  of  candles  to  loo  men  per  week,  for  guards,  etc.;  24 
pounds  of  soft  or  8  pounds  of  hard  soap  for  100  men  per  week  ; 
i  ration  of  salt,  I  ration  of  fresh  meat,  and  2  rations  of  bread, 
to  be  delivered  Monday  morning  ;  Wednesday  morning  the  same  ; 
Friday  morning  the  same,  and  I  ration  of  salt  fish.  Substantially 
the  same  ration  was  approved  by  Congress  November  4,  1775, 
but  with  "  or  cider  "  after  the  word  '« beer." 

[  79  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

the  number  of  regiments  made  it  necessary  to 
serve  a  part  of  the  army  on  other  days.1  In  the 
winter  months  corned  beef  and  pork  were  given 
out  four  days  a  week,  a  pound  and  a  half  of  the 
former  and  eighteen  ounces  of  the  latter  per  diem. 
Onions  at  two  and  eightpence  a  bushel  and  po 
tatoes  or  turnips  at  one  and  fourpence  a  bushel 
might  be  substituted  for  peas  or  beans.2 

The  ration  authorized  by  Washington  at  Valley 
Forge  in  the  spring  of  1778  called  for  i  y2  pounds 
of  flour  or  bread,  i  pound  of  beef  or  fish,  or  ^ 
pound  of  pork,  and  i  gill  of  whiskey  or  spirits ; 
or  i  y2  pounds  of  flour,  y^  pound  of  pork  or 
bacon,  y2  pint  of  peas  or  beans,  and  i  gill  of 

1  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  August  8,  1775, 
p.   66.      The  ration  in  force  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish- 
American  war  of  1898  was  :    I  ^  pounds  of  beef  or  ^  pound 
of  pork,  i  8  ounces  of  bread  or  flour,  T^  pound  of  coffee,  -f^ 
pound  of  sugar,  i  pound  of  vegetables  ;   ^  quarts  of  salt,  4  quarts 
of  vinegar,  4  ounces  of  pepper,  4  pounds  of  soap,  1 1^  pounds 
of  candles,  to   100  rations.       An  allowance   at   the  rate  of  60 
cents  per  day  per  man  was  made  for  special  food  for  the  sick. 
In  Cuba,  however,  the  sick  were  fortunate  if  they  received  the 
army  ration,  when   their  comrades  lived  on  hard   bread,  poor 
beef,   coffee,   sugar,   and  an   occasional   tomato.  —  Commissary- 
General  of  Subsistence,  Report  for  year  ending  June  30,  1898, 
pp.  7,  25-32. 

2  Washington's  Orders,  December  24,  1775  ;  also  Barriger's 
Legislative  History  of  Subsistence  Department,  second  edition, 
p.  8. 

[  80  ] 


Material  Needs 


whiskey  or  spirits.  These  amounts  were  varied 
according  to  the  state  of  the  stores  in  camp.1 
^Washington,  writing  to  the  president  of  Con 
gress,  June  28,  1776,  estimated  the  cost  of  a  ration 
at  eightpence  York  currency,  or  a  trifle  more.2 
In  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  commissary 
department,  agreed  to  by  Congress  June  10,  1777, 
a  ration  was  to  be  considered  as  worth  ten  nine 
tieths  of  a  dollar,  or  a  little  over  eleven  cents.3 
When  the  army  was  in  camp  a  market  was  es 
tablished,  where  farmers  were  allowed  to  offer 
their  produce  for  sale ;  and  one  suttling  booth  was 
permitted  within  each  brigade's  limits  where 
liquor  might  be  sold  at  fixed  prices.4  Milk  was 
brought  in  from  the  country  for  the  sick  whenever 
it  could  be  had,  but  the  exorbitant  sums  asked  by 
farmers  v/ere  a  frequent  source  of  vexation  and 
privationX  At  Peekskill  General  Putnam  in  1777 
fixed  the  prices  of  provisions,  and  made  the 
penalty  for  buying  articles  at  prices  above  those 

1  Washington's     Revolutionary    Orders    (Whiting,    1844), 
p.  63. 

2  Washington's    Writings    (Ford),    vol.   4,    p.    185.      The 
Virginia  Committee  of  Safety  in  1776  considered  their  ration  of 
bacon,  pork  or  beef,  with  flour  or  meal,  and  salt,  worth 

— Virginia  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  vol.  8,  p.  84. 

3  Barriger's  Legislative  History,  second  edition,  p.  17. 

4  Washington's  Revolutionary  Orders  (Whiting),  p.  62. 

[  81  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

authorized,  the  forfeiture  of  the  produce  or  the 
value  in  money.  Later,  when  milk  could  not  be 
obtained  at  sixpence  a  quart,  an  officer  and  thirty 
men  were  detailed  from  each  regiment  to  collect 
cows  sufficient  in  number  to  supply  the  needs  of 
the  army,  and  to  care  for  them  until  the  owners 
would  agree  to  the  terms  fixed  by  the  general.1 

The  army  often  suffered  from  the  scarcity  of 
'  vegetables  because  perishable  food  could  not  be 
carried  as  readily  as  beef.  In  Sullivan's  cam 
paign  against  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians  the  men 
fared  well;  nuts  and  melons  are  mentioned  in 
many  diaries,  and  also  corn  or  maize,  which  was 
ripe  when  the  invading  columns  reached  the  first 
Indian  villages.  After  corn  became  too  old  to 
boil  or  roast  it  was  converted  into  meal ;  tin 
kettles,  found  in  the  red  men's  huts,  were  perfo 
rated  and  used  to  grate  the  kernels,  and  every 
fourth  man  not  on  guard,  it  is  said,  sat  up  at  night 
to  play  the  part  of  miller.  This  meal  was  mixed 
with  hot  pumpkin  or  boiled  squash,  and  kneaded 

1  Putnam's  Orders,  August  8,  13,  1777.  The  prices  were  : 
Butter  2s.  per  pound  ;  mutton  and  lamb,  8d. ;  veal  6d. ;  milk, 
6d.  per  quart;  potatoes  6s.  per  bushel;  squashes,  is.  per 
peck  ;  beans  or  peas  in  pod,  is.  6d.  per  peck  ;  cucumbers,  is. 
per  dozen  ;  pig  for  roasting,  is.  per  pound  ;  turnips,  carrots, 
and  beets,  6s.  per  bushel,  New  York  money.  September  3  ; 
cider,  6d.  York  or  4d.  lawful  money  per  quart. 

[  82  ] 


Material  Needs 


into  cakes  which  were  baked  in  the  coals.1  Food 
of  this  kind  was  of  great  importance  in  prevent 
ing  the  diseases  which  arise  from  a  steady  diet  of 
meat.  So  great  occasionally  was  the  need  of  vege 
tables  that  a  commander  felt  justified  in  ordering 
each  regiment  to  prepare  ground  and  plant  seed, 
on  the  chance  that  head-quarters  would  not  be 
moved  before  the  time  of  harvest.2  Congress, 
meanwhile,  urged  the  colonies  to  encourage  agri 
cultural  societies. 8 

When  provisions  were  scarce  the  allowance  per 
man  was  reduced  sometimes  to  J^  pound  of  flour 
a  day,  %  pound  of  beef,  with  5  gills  of  salt  to 
100  pounds  of  beef.4  At  times  the  soldiers  had 
no  vinegar,  at  other  times  no  vegetables  or  bread. 
In  the  midst  of  distracting  quarrels  among  jealous 
officers,  Washington  sent  out  appeals  for  aid, 
writing :  "Our  soldiers  the  greatest  part  of  last 
campaign,  and  the  whole  of  this,  have  scarcely 
tasted  any  kind  of  vegetables ;  had  but  little  salt 

1  Nathan  Davis' s  History,  Historical  Magazine,  April,  1868, 
p.  203. 

2  Putnam's  General   Orders,  August   25,  1777,  p.   62  ;  also 
American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.   1584. 

3  Journals  of  Congress,  March  21,  1776. 

4  Dr.  Jabez  Campfield's  Diary,  p.   133;  also  Orderly  Book 
of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga  and  Mt.  Independence 
(Albany,  1859),  p.  132. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

and  vinegar,  which  would  have  been  a  tolerable 
substitute  for  vegetables ;  have  been  in  a  great 
measure  strangers  to,  neither  have  they  been  pro 
vided  with,  proper  drink.  Beer  or  cyder  seldom 
comes  within  the  verge  of  the  camp,  and  rum  in 
much  too  small  quantities.  Thus,  to  devouring 
large  quantities  of  animal  food,  untemper'd  by 
vegetables  or  vinegar,  or  by  any  kind  of  drink 
but  water,  and  eating  indifferent  bread  .  .  . 
are  to  be  ascribed  the  many  putrid  diseases  inci 
dent  to  the  army."1  In  the  winter  of  1779  and 
1 780  the  army  was  sometimes  for  five  or  six  days 
without  bread,  often  as  long  without  meat,  and 
once  or  twice  two  or  three  days  without  either.2 

Men  in  the  Arnold  expedition  against  Quebec, 
many  a  night,  lay  down  without  food.  In  Cap 
tain  Goodrich's  company  several  became  very 
weak  from  hunger,  and  at  last  Captain  Dearborn 
gave  them  his  pet  dog.  The  soldiers  carried  the 
poor  creature  away  and  ate  every  part  of  his  flesh, 
"  not  excepting  his  entrails."  Two  other  dogs 
were  eaten  the  same  day.3 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  5,  p.  495. 

2  Washington  at   Morristown;  his  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  8, 
p.  186. 

3  Dearborn  to  Rev.  W.  Allen  ;  note  to  J.  Melvin's  Journal, 
October  3  i,  1775  (New  York,  1857),  p.  14;   (1864)  p.  30. 


BY     H 


GEORGE  WASf 

GENERAL  and  C  O  M  M  A  I> 
of  the  UNITED  S 


B 


:  E  L  L  E  N  C  V 

I N  G  T  O  N,  ESQUIRE, 

DER  m  CHIEF  of  the  FORCES 

ATES  OF  AMERICA. 


Y  Virtue  of  the  Po\v£r  and  Direction  to  Me  efpe- 
cially  given,  I  hereby  enjoin  and  require  all  Perfons 

-r»     M  X  4 


refiding  within  feventy  M 
threfh  one  Half  of  their  G 
and  the  other  Half  by  the 


les  of  my  Head  Quarters  to 
in.by  the  i  ft  Day  of  February, 
ft  Day  of  March  next  enfuing, 


on  Pain,  in  Cafe  of  Failure  of  having  all  that  fhali  re 
main  in  Sheaves  after  the  Period  above  mentioned,  feized 
by  the  Commiflaries  and  Quarter-Matters  of  the  Army^ 
and  paid  for  as  Straw 

GIVEN  under  my  Hand,  at  Head  Quarters,  near 
the  Valley  Forge,  in  Philadelphia  County,  this  loth 
Day  of  December,  1777. 

G.     WASHINGTON. 
By  His  Excellency's  Command, 
ROBERT  H.  HARRISON,  Sec'y« 


LA.N  CASTER:    PRINTED  "BY    JOHN     D  U  N  L  A  J? 

Fac-simile  (reduced)   of  a  call  for  grain  for  the  army  at  Valley  Forge. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society.) 


Material  Needs 


>T  A  story  is  told  of  two  soldiers  in  another  cam 
paign  who,  being  out  of  provisions,  put  a  stone  in 
their  camp-kettle  when  a  certain  Colonel  Winds 
was  expected.  The  colonel  soon  stopped  before 
their  fire  and  inquired :  "  Well  men,  anything  to 
eat  ?  "  "  Not  much,"  they  replied, 

"  What  have  you  in  that  kettle  ?  " 

"A  stone,  Colonel,  for  they  say  there  is  some 
strength  in  stones,  if  you  can  only  get  it  out." 

This  guileless  conversation  had  the  desired  ef 
fect,  for  the  officer  declared  that  they  must  have 
something  better  to  eat.  x 

In  times  of  distress  it  was  vexing  to  find  that 
the  wagon-drivers  had  ruined  the  pork  by  drawing 
out  the  brine  to  lighten  the  load ;  *  or  to  see  a 
clumsy  fellow  endeavoring  to  guide  through  the 
marshy  road  four  or  five  horses  attached  to  a 
wagon  from  which  barrels  of  flour  and  other 
perishable  provisions  tumbled  into  the  mud.2  At 
Harlem  Heights,  soon  after  the  battle  of  Long 
Island,  the  general  saw  about  the  camp  large 
pieces  of  fine  beef  left  untouched  to  putrefy  in 
the  sun.3 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  125. 

2  Dr.  J.  Campfield's  Diary,  p.  133. 

3  General  orders,  September  28,  1776.      American  Archives 
V.,  vol.  2,  col.  605. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

The  food  was  frequently  poorly  cooked  from  a 
scarcity  of  wood  for  the  fires,  and  the  few  trees 
near  a  camp  were  the  source  of  angry  disputes. 
"  I  thought,"  said  Washington  one  day,  "  that 
different  regiments  were  upon  the  point  of  cut 
ting  each  others'  throats  for  a  few  standing  lo 
custs  near  their  encampments,  to  dress  their 
victuals  with." ]  The  quartermaster-general  was 
instructed  to  investigate  complaints  regarding 
food  and  to  punish  careless  cooks  and  bakers.2  In 
Wayne's  command  each  regiment  or  corps  had 
an  officer  appointed  weekly  whose  duty  it  was  to 
visit  the  kitchen  or  place  for  cooking  in  every 
company,  to  see  that  the  work  was  properly 
done,  and  that  meat  was  boiled,  not  fried.  It 
was  recommended  that  flour  be  drawn  from  the 
stores  two  days  in  each  week,  so  that  small 
dumplings  could  be  made  for  the  soup.3  When 
the  kitchen  had  no  roof  but  the  sky  the  soup 
was  often  too  thoroughly  permeated  with  burnt 
leaves  and  dirt  to  be  palatable.4  Better  cooking, 
especially  baking,  became  a  pressing  necessity ; 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  195. 

2  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  44. 

3  Orderly  Book  of  the  Northern   Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p. 
126. 

4  Dr.  A.  Waldo's  Diary,  Historical  Magazine,  May,  1861, 
p.  131. 

[86] 


Material  Needs 


finally  all  bakers  were  placed  under  a  director, 
without  whose  license  no  baker  could  work  for 
the  army.1  A  year  later  a  company  of  bakers 
was  authorized,  to  consist  of  seventy-five  men 
and  a  director  who  was  to  receive  $50  a  month 
and  three  rations  a  day.2 

The  beef  was  poor  all  through  the  winter  of 
1777-78,  so  lean  and  thin  that  it  became  a 
matter  of  jest.  A  butcher  who  wore  white  but 
tons  on  the  knees  of  his  breeches  was  seen  bear 
ing  a  quarter  of  beef  into  camp. 

"  There,  Tom,"  cried  a  soldier,  "  is  some  more 
of  our  fat  beef.  By  my  soul,  I  can  see  the  butch 
er's  breeches  buttons  through  it."3  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  doctor  who  records  this  conver 
sation  was  fervently  grateful  for  a  good  stomach 
that  he  might  endure  "  fire-cake  "  and  water  for 
breakfast,  with  water  and  fire-cake  for  dinner. 
At  evening  the  cry  could  be  heard  along  the 
line  of  soldiers'  huts  at  Valley  Forge,  "  No  meat, 
no  meat."  That  the  men  under  these  conditions 
still  showed  "  a  spirit  of  alacrity  and  content 
ment  "  was  marvellous.  Were  soldiers  to  have 

journals  of  Congress,  May  3,  1777. 

2  Ibid.,  February  27,  1778. 

3  Dr.  Waldo's  Diary,  Historical   Magazine,  May,  1861,   p. 
134. 

[   87  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

plenty  of  food  and  rum,  wrote  Dr.  Waldo,  "  I 
believe  they  would  storm  Tophet."  ] 
^XThe  fare  of  the  enemy  was  not  always  better 
than  that  of  the  Continental  soldiers,  if  confidence 
may  be  placed  in  the  remark  of  a  diarist  that  bis 
cuit  taken  from  the  British  regulars  were  hard 
enough  for  flints.2 

The  question  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  good 
food  was  of  the  first  importance,  and  was  seem 
ingly  as  little  understood  by  politicians  of  the 
day,  as  was  the  effect  of  clothing  on  enlistments, 
or  of  enlistment  for  short  periods  on  the  success 
of  a  campaign.^  Washington  estimated  that  30,- 
ooo  men  would  require  for  twelve  months  at 
least  200,000  barrels  of  flour  and  40,000,000 
pounds  of  meat.3  To  obtain  these  supplies  each 
year  was  one  of  the  great  tasks  imposed  upon 
the  Commander-in-chief,  and  had  confidence  in 
Washington  not  grown  from  year  to  year  and 
made  his  appeals  effective,  the  Revolutionary 
War  must  have  failed.  To  prevent  the  entire 
dissolution  of  the  small  permanent  force  which 
was  deemed  necessary  during  the  winter  months 

!Dr.  Waldo's  Diary,  Historical  Magazine,  May,  1861, 
p.  130. 

2  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  53. 

3  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  8,  p.  225. 

I  88  ] 


Material  Needs 


of  inactivity,  food  had  to  be  saved  for  the  sup 
port  of  these  men  that  should  have  been  avail 
able  to  maintain  the  militia  when  called  upon 
for  important  enterprises.1 

^The  method  adopted  to  obtain  supplies  was 
simple  in  theory;  the  amount  of  flour,  meat,  and 
other  necessities  to  be  procured  was  apportioned 
to  the  various  colonies  to  be  collected,  trans 
ported,  and  deposited  at  such  places  within  the 
respective  colonies  or  States  as  the  Commander- 
in-chief  might  from  time  to  time  designate.3 
The  same  lack  of  a  central  authority  strong 
enough  to  use  force,  which  made  it  next  to 
impossible  to  collect  clothing,  draft  men,  raise 
money,  or  punish  deserters,  played  havoc  with 
the  commissary  department.  But  when  Wash 
ington  in  his  vigorous,  earnest  appeals  stirred 
the  people  near  at  hand  they  never  failed  him. 
The  crises  were  always  safely  passed,  and  the 
war  went  on  to  the  end.  £ 

Next  in  value  to  good  food  may  be  placed 
LX  clothing,    upon    which     depended    largely    the 
health,  degree  of  cleanliness,  and  soldierly  pride 
of  the  army.     Frequent  wars  throughout  the  col 
onies   from   the    earliest  times  had   fostered  the 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  9,  p.  45. 

2  Sparks  in  Washington's  Writings  (1834),  vol.  6,  p.  482. 

[  89  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

military  spirit  along  the  Atlantic  coast  line  and 
the  inland  frontier  towns.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  militia  and  independent  companies 
were  to  be  found  in  all  the  colonies,  and  styles 
of  uniform  were  almost  as  numerous  as  company 
organizations.  From  the  simple  dress  of  the 
New  England  alarm-list  companies  to  the  elab 
orate  costumes  of  the  private  corps  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  or  Virginia  was  a  long  step ;  and 
thus  it  happened  that  the  levies  raised  from  time 
to  time  on  short  enlistments  to  reenforce  the 
Continental  army  formed  a  motley  gathering. 
In  the  ranks  at  the  siege  of  Boston  were  men 
dressed  as  savages,1  as  backwoodsmen,  and  some 
with  uniforms  not  unlike  those  of  the  British 
regulars.2  The  general  hue  of  the  ranks,  how 
ever,  not  only  in  the  campaign  before  Boston 
but  through  much  the  larger  part  of  the  war,  was 
sombre,  and  can  best  be  indicated  by  saying  that 
the  browns  and  greens  predominated.3  Congress 
seems  to  have  recognized  this  in  an  order  to  the 
commissioners  at  the  Court  of  France  in  1777  to 

1  American  Archives  IV.,  vol.  3,  col.  z. 

2  A  little  later  confusion  arose  from  the  similarity  of  the  cloaks 
of  the  Connecticut  light  horse  to  those  of  the  enemy. — Waldo's 
Diary,  Historical  Magazine,  June,  1861,  p.  169. 

3  Historical  Magazine,  vol.  4,  p.  353    (December,  1860)  ; 
also  Magazine  of  American  History,  vol.  I ,  p.  46 1 . 

[  90] 


C  f  .aml'cr  of  fcff  h'cs,  Water  town,  June   18,  i?~$* 

Gr-NTI  EMF.N, 

E  Welfare  of  on  r  Coon  try  again  induces  us  to  urge  your 
cxettions  in  fending  to  the  Magazine  in  this  place,  what 
?:\  rcicle7;"Salt  Fork,  Beans, 


r-N 

r*  M  i 

.4jf-R-  -- 
'•*•- 


peas,  Vinegar  and  Blankets,  the  prizes  ivhereof  as  well  as- 
theCarritjg  {hall  be  allowed  according  to  the  Cuftom  of  your  Placer 
vhich  Vic  defire  you  to  certify  —  It  is  of  the  utmoft  Importance  thac- 
the  Aimy  fhould  be  fuppliecl  agreeable  to  the  Refolve  of  the  Co;v- 
f.r-is  more  efpeciaMy  with  thefc  Articles,  the  four  firft  of  which  are 
neccflii  y  for  the  Subfiftence  as  well  as  the  Health  of  the  Men,  and'v 
the  other  for  their  Comfort  —  J  he  .  occalion  of  the  Deficiency  in 
Blankets  is  moftly  owing  to  a  number  of  Men  enlifted  from  Bofton 
and  other  Towns  which  have  been  vacated,  ar.d  they  all  muft  be1 
procured  immediately  or  our  worthy  Countrymen  will  fuffer.  — 

As  the  Country  affords  every  thing,  ire  plenty  neceflary  to  fubfifl:- 
the  Army,  and  we  cannot  ac  prefenc  obtain  many  things  but  by  youf" 
/\ffiftancer  ye  ^flTirgonrfrlygs  that^ou  will  aft  your  .parr^;  as  worrhily  . 
a^you  have  doae  and  hope  that  die  Event  of  all  our  exertions  will- 
be  the  Salvation  of  Our  Country. 
To   the  Sdeftmen  and  Committee 

ofComfpondencefor.  the  Town 

of  &fim  ne^iy&cvift^    D.\vin  CflEEvfR,  per  Qrder  of 
Caromitcec  of  Supplies. 


Call  for  food  and  blankets,  June   18,    1775. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library.) 


jff%«v%  ««Mnu*aiw*4flttuis^^ 


[  PROSPECT   HILL. 

r  VVVAXV-VA/VV 

I.  Seven  Dollar*  •  Month.         —          — 

II.  F-cfh  Provifioni,  Ud  io  Plenty.    —      — 


IV.  Freedom,  Eafe,  Affluence  tnd  a  good  Farm. 


BUNKER'*  HILL. 


I.    Three  Peace  a  Day. 
IL    Rotten  Salt  Pork. 

III.  The  Scurvy. 

IV.  ShTcry,  Beggary  and  Want 


'•*A*i**J*WWWm*^^ 

Handbill   sent  among  the  British  troops  on  Bunker  Hill. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.) 


,  iTY 


Material  Needs 


send  uniforms  of  green,  blue,  and  brown  colors.1 
The  popular  "blue  and  buff"  were  not  worn  by 
the  Continental  rank  and  file  from  New  England 
or  the  South,  and  the  New  York  and  New  Jer 
sey  troops,  for  whom  the  combination  was  des 
ignated  between  1779  and  1782  were,  much  of 
the  time,  destitute  of  cloth  of  the  proper  colors. 

During  the  opening  months  of  the  Revolu 
tion  the  troops  that  had  no  distinctive  uniform 
were,  as  far  as  possible,  clothed  as  Washington 
suggested,  in  a  hunting  shirt  (a  long  loose  coat), 
and  in  long  breeches  to  which  were  attached 
gaiters  or  small-clothes  buttoned  at  the  sides 
and  held  down  by  straps  under  the  shoes.  The 
gaiters  or  leggings  were  often  made  of  tow  cloth 
which  had  been  steeped  in  a  tan  vat  until  it  be 
came  the  color  of  a  dry  leaf.  This  uniform  was 
sometimes  called  the  rifle  dress.2  There  were 
ruffles  of  the  same  material  around  the  neck  and 
on  the  bottom  of  the  coat,  on  the  shoulders,  at 
the  elbows,  and  about  the  wrists.  The  hat  was 
round  and  dark,  with  a  broad  brim  turned  up  in 
three  places,  in  one  of  which  there  was  usually  a 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  February. 5,  1777. 

2  Magazine   of  American  History,  vol.   I,  p.  60,  p.  461    et 
seq.y   a   valuable   review   of  the    subject    by    Professor    A.    B. 
Gardner  of  West  Point. 

[  91  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

cockade  of  some  color  or  a  sprig  of  green.  A 
white  belt  over  the  left  shoulder  held  the  car- 
touch-box.  A  black  cloth  or  stock  went  about 
the  neck,  and  the  hair  was  bound  in  a  cue  at  the 
back.1 

This  costume  was,  in  the  minds  of  the  British, 
associated  with  a  skilful  marksman,  and  Wash 
ington  in  the  summer  of  1776  urged  its  impor 
tance  in  these  words :  "  It  is  a  dress  which  is 
justly  supposed  to  carry  no  small  terror  to  the 
enemy,  who  think  every  such  person  a  complete 
marksman."2  At  Bunker  Hill  a  rifleman,  stand 
ing  upon  the  earthworks,  was  noticed  by  an 
Englishman  to  have  shot  as  many  as  twenty  of 
Howe's  officers  before  he  fell,3  and  in  the  Sara 
toga  campaign,  Anburey,  watching  the  effect  of 
their  fire,  attributed  to  the  Americans  a  love  of 
killing.4  The  British  had  reason,  therefore,  to 
fear  the  rifleman's  dress. 

The  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  re 
solved  July  5,  1775,  to  provide  13,000  coats, 
faced  with  the  material  of  the  coat,  without 

1  See  also   Uniforms  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States  from 
1774  to  1889,  pp.  1-3. 

2  Washington's  Writings   (Ford),  vol.   4,  p.  297.      Orderly 
Book,  July  24,  1776. 

3  Trevelyan's  American  Revolution,  part  i,  p.  328. 

4  Anburey 's  Travels,  vol.   I,  p.  331. 

[  92  ] 


Material  Needs 


lapels,  short  and  with  small  folds,  each  regiment 
to  have  its  number  on  the  pewter  buttons.1  The 
general  orders  from  head-quarters  at  Cambridge, 
July  24,  1775,  recommended  Indian  leggings 
instead  of  stockings,  as  Washington  hoped  to 
obtain  from  the  Continental  Congress  a  hunting 
shirt  for  each  man.2  Leggings  were  also  warmer 
than  stockings,  more  lasting,  and  could  be  had 
in  uniform  color.3  Congress,  on  November  4, 
1775,  resolved  to  provide  clothing  for  the  army, 
to  be  paid  for  by  stoppages  out  of  the  soldiers' 
wages.  At  the  same  time  it  was  ordered  that  as 
much  as  possible  the  cloth  be  dyed  brown,  and 
the  distinction  in  regiment  be  indicated  by  the 
color  of  the  facing.4  It  will  be  noticed  that 
there  was  little  attempt  to  introduce  bright  col 
ors,  which  were  less  serviceable  and  less  easy 
to  obtain. 

1  American  Archives  IV.,  vol.  2,  col.  1486. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  3,  col.  248. 

3  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  65. 

4  Again,    having   in   mind   the  necessity   of  providing    '«  the 
soldiers  of  the  United    Colonies  "  with  clothing  and   blankets, 
Congress  resolved,  June  19,  1776,  to  recommend  to  the  colonial 
assemblies   and    conventions  that   they   cause   to   be   made    for 
each  soldier  a  suit  of  clothes,  the  waistcoat  and  breeches  to  be 
of  deer  leather  if  to  be  had  on  reasonable  terms,  a  blanket,  felt 
hat,  two  shirts,  two  pair  of  hose,  and  two  pair  of  shoes. 

[  93  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

In  the  campaign  about  New  York  in  1776 
many  soldiers  had  no  uniforms,  and  these  men 
were  provided  with  hunting  shirts.1  In  October, 
1776,  Congress  voted  to  give  annually  to  each 
soldier  who  would  enlist  for  the  war  a  suit  of 
cloths,  to  consist  that  year  of  two  linen  hunting 
shirts,  two  pair  of  overalls,  a  leathern  or  woollen 
waistcoat  with  sleeves,  one  pair  of  breeches,  a 
hat  or  leather  cap,  two  shirts,  two  pair  of  hose, 
and  two  pair  of  shoes.2 

Writing  to  Governor  Trumbull  in  January, 
1778,  Washington  gave  his  opinion  on  a  service 
able  form  of  clothing,  and  added  a  word  as  to  the 
value  of  trousers,  now  so  universally  adopted : 
"  I  would  recommend  a  garment  of  the  pattern 
of  the  sailors  for  jacket.  This  sets  close  to  the 
body,  and  by  buttoning  double  over  the  breast 
adds  much  to  the  warmth  of  the  soldier.  There 
may  be  a  small  cape  and  cuff  of  a  different  color 
to  distinguish  the  corps.  ...  As  the  overall 
is  much  preferable  to  breeches,  I  would  recom 
mend  as  many  of  them  as  possible." 3  The  differ- 

1  American  Archives  IV.,  vol.  6,  col.  426. 

2  Journals  of  Congress,  October  8,  1776. 

3  Washington's  Writings   (Ford),  vol.  6,  p.  288.      In   Gen 
eral   Sullivan's   expedition  in    1779  against  the  Six   Nations  in 
Western  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  each  man  wore  a  short 

[  94  ] 


Material  Needs 


ence  desirable  in  winter  and  in  summer  is  shown 
in  the  following  letter : 

"  In  June  should  be  given  a  waistcoat  with 
sleeves,  flannel,  if  to  be  had,  two  pair  of  linnen 
overalls,  one  shirt,  a  black  stock  of  hair  or  leather, 
a  small  round  hat  bound  and  a  pair  of  shoes.  In 
January,  a  waistcoat  to  be  worn  over  the  former, 
close  in  the  skirts  and  double  breasted,  resem 
bling  a  sailor's — ,  to  have  a  collar  and  cuff  of  a 
different  color,  in  order  to  distinguish  the  regi 
ment,  a  pair  of  breeches,  woolen  overalls,  yarn 
stockings,  shirt,  woolen  cap,  and  a  blanket  when 
really  necessary.  Watch  coats  ought  if  possible 
to  be  provided  for  sentinels." * 

Trousers  or  overalls  were  more  and  more  rec 
ognized  as  necessary,  and  Congress  by  a  resolu 
tion  of  March  23,  1779,  directed  Washington 
to  fix  and  prescribe  a  uniform  for  the  soldiers, 
being  governed  by  the  supply,  "woolen  over 
alls  for  winter  and  linen  for  summer  to  be  sub 
stituted  for  the  breeches."  The  adoption  of  blue 
coats  followed  in  the  fall;  for  in  general  orders 
dated  at  Moore's  house,  October  2,  1779,  the 

rifle  frock,  a  vest,  trousers  of  tow,  shoes,  stockings,  and  carried 
a  blanket  and  an  extra  shirt. — Nathan  Davis' s  History,  Histor 
ical  Magazine,  April,  1868,  p.  204. 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  6,  p.  330. 

[  95  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Commander  ordered  that  the  coats  of  the  infantry 
be  blue  with  white  linings  and  buttons.  The 
New  England  troops  were  to  be  distinguished  by 
white  facings,  those  of  New  York  and  New  Jer 
sey  by  buff  facings,  those  of  Pennsylvania,  Dela 
ware,  Maryland,  and  Virginia  by  facings  of  red, 
and  the  troops  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  by 
blue,  with  buttonholes  edged  with  white  tape  or 
lace.  The  artillery  coats  were  to  be  faced  and  lined 
with  scarlet ;  they  were  to  be  edged  with  tape,  as 
well  as  the  buttonholes,  and  the  buttons  and  hat 
bands  were  to  be  of  yellow.  Finally,  the  light 
dragoons  or  cavalry  were  to  be  distinguished  by 
blue  coats,  with  white  facing,  linings,  and  buttons. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  "blue  and  buff"  had  no 
standing  in  eleven  of  the  thirteen  States,  although 
blue  now  became  the  military  color  of  the  United 
States.1 

Signs  of  merit,  common  to  all  parts  of  the 
country,  were  adopted  toward  the  close  of  the 
war.  In  August,  1782,  Washington  directed 
that  a  non-commissioned  officer  or  a  private 
who  had  served  honorably  for  more  than  three 
uninterrupted  years  should  be  permitted  to  wear 
upon  the  left  sleeve  of  the  uniform  coats  a  narrow 
angular  piece  of  cloth  of  the  color  of  the  regi- 

1  Magazine  of  American  History,  vol.   I,  p.  477. 

[  96  ] 


"'    tfaterla 


IN  Obedience  to  the  Order  of  Concrete  .we  have  proportioned  Thirteen  Thoufar 
Coats  on  all  the  Town?  and  Dirtric^s  in  this  Colony,  excepting  Boflon  and  Charlcllown  ; 
and  $ve  inctofed  you  the  Proportion,  with  their  Rcfoives,  «mi  a  Sample  as  a  Direction  to 
,  DU  Iv.ith  as  to  the  Colour  smdQuality  of  the  Cloth  which  fhall  bfc  Mariuficlurcd  by  you,  and 
of  thcQittli'y  of  the  imporredClotns  of  which  theCoats  fbal!  be  made  :  We  are  to  aflurc  you 
that  the  Coats  you  fupply  fhall  be  delivered  to  the  Men  of  your  Town  fo  far  as  CsrcumiUn- 
f cs  will  .a jitttt.  ^ 

We  arc,  Gentlemen,  refpetifu'Iy, 

your  moft  humble  Servants, 
DAVID  CHEEVER,  Chaitman. 


P.  S  A  large  Nomber  of  Shirts,  Stockings  and  Summer  Brcccties  artfw: 
ffiately  fo*-;HoUfe  of  theArmy,  you  arc  therefore  carncftly  reqncflcd,  as  you.YjiI'Jc  the  Live1; 
and  Health  of  ydr  Countrymen,  to  furntfh  this  Committee  as  foon  ss  pofTiblf.  with  a  !:>rge 
Number  of  the  Paid  Articles,  not  lefs  than  two  Shirts,  two  pair  of  Stockings  ami  two  n.ur  of 

Surnmer  Breaches  to  each  Coat,  apportioned  as  the  Share  of  your  Town and  fend  them  a<5 

foo:i  as  procured  o  Mr.  William  Hunt,  at  Watetft^n— We  fhall  be  ready  to  Order  Payment 
for  ihe  !.inte  a;  fb>»  as  recciv'd,  according  to  the  Price*  vvh:di  yon •^hall'ccyy,  r^-ying  "» 
your  judjjinept  to  prevent  I;hpd(itions  tipon  the  Soldiers,  4&  j 


Call  for  coats,  showing  a  sample  of  the  fawn-colored  felt-cloth  desired. 
These  broadsides  are  rarely  found  with  the  cloth  still  attached. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library.) 


Material  Needs 


mental  facing.  For  six  years  of  service  a  parallel 
strip  might  be  added.  Unusually  meritorious 
action  earned  for  the  soldier  a  purple  heart  of  silk 
or  cloth  edged  with  lace  or  binding,  to  be  worn 
on  the  facing  over  the  left  breast.1 

The  uniforms  of  all  the  infantry  and  cavalry 
were  later  ordered  to  be  blue,  faced  with  red  and 
lined  with  white — the  buttons  also  to  be  white. 
This  order,  from  the  scarcity  of  scarlet  cloth,  did 
not  prove  effective  until  the  war  closed.2 

The  Revolution  quickened  the  production  of 
cloth  (duck,  Russia  sheeting,  tow-cloth,  osna- 
burgs,  ticklenburgs),8  as  it  did  that  of  shoes,  gun 
powder,  and  firearms.  Throughout  the  country 
towns  women  carded  and  spun  the  wool  and  flax 
which  their  husbands  provided,  and  the  cotton 
which  came  from  the  West  Indies ;  then  they 
themselves,  or  itinerant  weavers,  wove  the  flannel, 
linen,  and  corduroy.  In  New  England  they 
usually  received — but  values  are  not  easy  to  set 
down — five  or  six  pence  a  skein  of  fifteen  knots 
(about  a  yard  and  a  half),  and  their  day's  work 
of  from  two  to  five  skeins  brought  the  value  of 

1  Washington's  Revolutionary  Orders  (Whiting),  pp.  220- 
231. 

2 General  Orders,  Newburgh,  December  6,  1782,  February 
24,  March  3,  1783. 

3  Mentioned  in  a  vote  of  Congress,  July  19,  1775. 

(97  I 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

five  or  ten  pounds  of  beef,  or,  to  state  it  again, 
one  or  two  good  dinners  at  the  tavern.1  Prices 
in  Virginia  in  1776  varied  greatly.  John  Har- 
rower,  a  Scot,  mentions  in  his  diary  a  payment 
of  five  shillings  a  pound  for  spun  cotton,  to  run 
eight  yards  per  pound,  or  about  seven  pence  a 
yard.2  Weaving  brought  the  same  or  a  less 
amount.  Many  towns  had  mills  for  producing 
cloth,  and  the  business  of  supplying  the  army 
grew  rapidly.  The  campaign  of  1775,  however, 
was  fought  by  men  who  had  no  clothing  at  hand 
suitable  for  very  cold  weather,  and  in  many  cases 
no  blankets  between  their  bodies  and  the  ground.8 
The  insufficient  clothing  was  more  serious  in  the 
expedition  led  by  Montgomery  in  the  autumn  of 
*775  to  Montreal.  His  proclamation,  promising 
every  article  of  clothing  requisite  for  the  rigors 
of  the  climate,  was  intended  to  satisfy  the  men 
who  were  willing  to  go  forward  ;  it  shows  that 
they  might  expect  blanket-coats,  coats,  waistcoats, 
breeches,  one  pair  of  stockings,  two  shirts,  leg 
gings,  sacks,  shoes,  mittens,  and  a  cap.4  The 

1  Weeden's  Economic  and  Social  History,  pp.  73  I,  789,  790. 

2  American  Historical   Review,  October,  1900,  p.   106;  see 
also  p.  107. 

3  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  pp.   142,  147. 
4Lossing's  Schuyler  (1872),  vol.   I,  p.  464. 

[  98  ] 


Material  Needs 


way  to  Canada  might  be  said  to  have  been 
paved  with  promises,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  rough 
road. 

In  December,  1776,  Washington  referred  to 
the  distresses  of  his  soldiers,  "many  of 'em  being 
entirely  naked  and  more  so  thinly  clad  as  to  be 
unfit  for  service."  *  The  hardships  of  the  year 
before  had  dampened  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
farmers,  and  enlistments  fell  off.  The  men  had 
ragged  shirts  and  many  marched  with  their  feet 
bare  ; 2  a  few  days  of  active  service  resulted  in 
sickness  for  want  of  proper  covering  at  night  and 
lameness  for  lack  of  shoes.  Many  deserted,  im 
pelled  by  indignation  at  what  was  believed  to  be 
the  bad  faith  and  indifference  of  the  Colonial 
Assemblies.  Colonel  Angell,  of  Rhode  Island, 
writing  from  Peekskill  in  August,  1777,  to  the 
governor  of  his  State,  declared  that  the  condition 
of  his  regiment  was  so  scandalous  that  the  mem 
bers  of  the  other  corps  and  people  in  the  villages 
along  the  line  of  march  called  his  men  "the 
Ragged,  Lousey,  Naked  regiment."  3 

These  troubles  reached  their  worst  form  in 
the  winter  at  Valley  Forge  in  1777-78  and  in 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Fordj,  vol.  5,  p.  103. 

2  Ibid. ,  vol.  5,  p.   151. 

3  I.  AngelJ's  Diary  (Field;,  p.  xii. 

[   99  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  summer  which  followed.  The  New  Tork 
Gazette  at  this  time  reported  humorously  that 
Congress  was  not  prevented  from  making  more 
paper  dollars  by  scarcity  of  rags,  for  "  independ 
ent  of  the  large  supply  expected  from  Washing 
ton's  army  as  soon  as  they  can  be  spared,  we 
have  reason  to  believe  the  country  in  general 
never  abounded  more  in  that  article." 1  The  dress 
of  the  soldiers  was  a  favorite  subject  for  jest, 
in  one  form  or  another,  among  the  British.  A 
poem  addressed  to  Washington,  who  had  issued 
a  proclamation  to  the  people  calling  upon  them 
to  fatten  their  cattle  for  his  army,  has  the  lines  : 

And  for  the  beef — there  needs  no  puff  about  it ; 
In  short,  they  must  content  themselves  without  it, 
Not  that  we  mean  to  have  them  starved — why,  marry, 
The  live-stock  in  abundance,  which  they  carry 
Upon  their  backs,  prevents  all  fear  of  that !  2 

Upward  of  2,000  men  were  unfit  for  service  in 
November,  1777;  in  December  there  were  2,898 
men  in  camp  unfit  for  duty,  many  with  no  shoes 
and  some  without  shirts.  Many  were  confined 

1  New  York  Gazette,  February  23,  1778.  In  F.  Moore's 
Diary,  vol.  2,  p.  16. 

2Rivington's  Royal  Gazette,  January  2,  1779.  In  Moore's 
Diary,  vol.  2,  p.  118. 


Material  Needs 


to  hospitals  and  farm-houses  with  feet  too  sore  to 
bear  unprotected  the  winter  snows.1  When  the 
trampled  mud  froze  suddenly  the  rough  ridges 
were  like  knives,  and  although  men  cut  up  their 
blankets  and  bound  the  strips  about  their  feet 
the  flesh  was  soon  as  unprotected  as  before.2 
Still  others,  in  their  huts,  sat  by  the  fire  through 
the  night  and  dozed,  unwilling  to  lie  far  enough 
from  the  coals  to  sleep.3  A  fourth  or  fifth  of  the 
army  passed  the  summer  of  1778  about  White 
Plains  without  shoes,  and  many  with  tattered 
shirts  and  breeches.4  The  winter  of  1779-80 
was  endured  by  many  without  suitable  covering 
at  night,5  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  young 
men  in  the  country  towns  demanded  exorbitant 
bounty  money  when  asked  to  enlist  in  the  fol 
lowing  spring.  If  the  Continental  Congress 
could  have  offered  good  clothing  and  sufficient 
food  soldiers  might  have  been  found  for  little  or/*' 
no  bounty.  - 

A  vivid  picture  of  Virginia  troops  is  given  by 
Thomas  Anburey  in  his  untrustworthy  but  read- 

1  Washington,  December  29,  1 777.      In  his  Writings  (Ford), 
vol.  6,  p.  267. 

2  John  Shreve's  Personal  Narrative.      Magazine  of  American 
History,  September,  1879,  P-  5^8. 

3  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  6,  p.  260. 

id.y  vol.  8,  p.  333.  5  Ibid.,  vol.  7,  p.   137. 

[  101  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

able  book  of  travels.  The  writer  claims  that  the 
colonel  was  proud  of  their  appearance,  and  went 
about  with  two  troopers  before  and  two  behind 
him,  bearing  drawn  swords.  Anburey  writes  : 

"  As  to  those  troops  of  [Colonel  Eland's  Vir 
ginia]  regiment  with  Washington's  army,  I  can 
not  say  any  thing,  but  the  two  that  the  colonel 
has  with  him  here,  for  the  purposes  of  expresses 
and  attendance,  are  the  most  curious  figures  you 
ever  saw  ;  some,  like  Prince  Prettyman,  with  one 
boot,  some  hoseless,  with  their  feet  peeping  out 
of  their  shoes ;  others  with  breeches  that  put  de 
cency  to  the  blush  ;  some  in  short  jackets,  some 
in  long  coats,  but  all  have  fine  dragoon  caps,  and 
long  swords  slung  round  them,  some  with  hol 
sters,  some  without,  but  gadamercy  pistols,  for 
they  have  not  a  brace  and  a  half  among  them, 
but  they  are  tolerably  well  mounted."  J 

While  considering  the  lack  of  clothing,  Wash 
ington  wrote  to  General  Lincoln  :  "  What  makes 
the  matter  more  mortifying  is  that  we  have,  I  am 
positively  assured  Ten  thousand  compleat  suits 
ready  in  France  &  laying  there  because  our  pub 
lic  agents  cannot  agree   whose  business  it  is  to 
ship  them — a  quantity  has  also  lain  in  the  West 
Indies  for  more   than    eighteen    months,   owing 
^nburey's  Travels,  vol.  2,  p.  320. 
[    102    ] 


Material  Needs 


probably  to  some  such  cause."  1  The  effect  of 
this  kind  of  official  inaction  upon  the  private 
may  be  illustrated  by  an  old  soldier's  experience 
which  he  described  to  the  historian  of  the  First 
New  Hampshire  Regiment.  This  man  had,  at 
the  time  of  these  troubles,  a  furlough  to  visit  his 
home  ;  but  the  journey  was  a  long  one.  Before 
he  could  start  he  was  obliged  to  spend  two  days 
in  cutting  up  his  blanket  to  make  for  himself 
breeches  and  a  pair  of  moccasins.2 

Two  months  before  the  siege  of  Yorktown 
began,  the  men  were  so  destitute  of  clothing 
that  the  French  troops,  encamped  near  by,  made 
jokes  on  the  nudity  of  the  Continentals  ;  yet,  such 
was  their  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  the  Colonies  that, 
when  two  ships  from  Spain  arrived  with  sup-, 
plies,  and  some  of  the  coats  were  found  to  be 
red  in  color  like  those  worn  by  the  British,  the 
Americans,  ill-clad  as  they  were,  refused  to  wear 
them.3  A  humorous  view  of  the  veterans  was 
taken  by  the  "  Peaceable  man,"  as  he  styled 
himself,  when  he  "  ventured  to  prophesy  .  .  . 
that  if  the  war  is  continued  through  the  winter, 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  9,  p.   51. 
2Kidder's  First  New  Hampshire  Regiment,  p.  72. 
3  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  in  J.  Durand's  New  Materials,  p. 
250. 

[    103   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  British  troops  will  be  scared  at  the  sight  of 
our  men,  for  as  they  never  fought  with  naked 
men,  the  novelty  of  it  will  terrify  them."  1  Times 
changed,  however,  and  the  winter  of  1782-83 
was  passed  at  Newburgh  in  comfort;  the  men 
were  better  fed,  well  clothed,  and  sheltered.2 

Ragged  uniforms  and  poor  food  for  a  long 
time  not  only  discouraged  enlistments,  but  in 
jured  the  efficiency  of  the  men  in  the  service. 
Soldiers  grumbled,  and  if  they  did  not  come  to 
open  mutiny,  they  grew  careless  about  their  ap 
pearance  and  negligent  in  their  habits.  "  Our 
men,"  Washington  wrote  in  the  orders  of  the 
day  for  January  1 ,  1 776,  "  are  brave  and  good ; 
men  who,  with  pleasure  it  is  observed,  are  ad 
dicted  to  fewer  vices  than  are  commonly  found 
in  armies.  .  .  .  If  a  soldier  cannot  be  in 
duced  to  take  pride  in  his  person  he  will  soon 
become  a  Sloven,  and  indifferent  to  everything 
else.  Whilst  we  have  men,  therefore,  who  in 
every  respect  are  superior  to  mercenary  troops, 
that  are  fighting  for  two  fence  or  three  fence  a  day, 
why  cannot  we  in  appearance  also  be  superior  to 
them,  when  we  fight  for  Life,  Liberty,  Property 
and  our  Country  *?  " 

1  M.  Morris's  Private  Journal,  p.   16. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  10,  p.  153. 

[    104  ] 


IV 

Firelock  and  Powder 

ALTHOUGH  guns  were  far  more  gen 
erally  used  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rev 
olution  than  they  are  to-day,  a  serious 
problem  in  each  campaign  was  to  provide  fire 
arms  for  the  troops.  Each  farmer  in  1775  had 
his  trusted  flintlock,  made  usually  by  the  hand 
of  a  village  gunsmith.1  With  the  disappearance 
of  village  artisans  much  of  the  charm  and  pros 
perity  of  rural  towns  has  taken  flight.  The  little 
shop  of  the  cordwainer,  or  shoemaker,  no  longer 
resounds  to  the  merry  tapping  of  the  pegs  or  the 
creaking  of  the  waxed  threads  in  his  hands  ;  the 

1  The  warlike  stores  in  Massachusetts,  and  what  is  now  Maine, 

reported  April  14,  1775,  aggregated  : 

Fire-arms 21,549 

Pounds  of  powder I  7,444 

Pounds  of  lead  balls 22,191 

Number  of  flints 1 44,699 

Number  of  bayonets 10,108 

Number  of  pouches 1 1,979 

(Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress,  edited  by  Lincoln, 

p.  756.) 

[    105   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

cooper  and  the  broom- maker  are  so  rare  that  few 
of  the  present  generation  have  seen  the  one 
crowding  his  staves  into  place  and  the  other 
shaping  the  broom-corn  about  the  handle.  The 
itinerant  weaver,  too,  has  passed  away,  and  the 
miller  no  longer  grinds  the  coarse  flour,  corn- 
meal,  and  buckwheat  which  delighted  the  chil 
dren  of  a  by-gone  age.  Who  of  us,  looking 
through  the  advertising  pages  of  a  popular  mag 
azine,  will  feel  any  sentiment  for  the  factories 
and  mills  pictured  there — those  unlovely  suc 
cessors  of  the  vine-covered  shops  of  the  cord- 
wainer,  the  cooper,  the  gunsmith  ? 

To  polish  the  barrel  of  a  gun  with  buckskin 
and  to  keep  a  gloss  on  the  stock  by  frequent  use 
of  oil  and  wax  required  more  time  than  the  av 
erage  soldier  could  or  perhaps  would  give ; J  so 
that  during  the  war  many  of  the  firelocks  soon 
wore  out  from  exposure  to  the  weather ;  some 
were  lost  in  difficult  marches,  and  others  becom 
ing  broken  could  not  easily  be  repaired,  since  the 
parts  were  usually  hand-made  and  a  new  part 
had  to  be  fitted  to  its  place.  The  Continental 
Congress,  July  18,  1775,  in  recommending  the 
formation  of  militia  companies,  suggested  that 

1  Major  Elliott's  Orders  ;  in  Charleston  Year  Book,  1889,  p. 
247. 

[  106  ] 


Flint-lock  guns,  wooden  canteen,  and  welded  bayonet  which  were  used 
by  privates  during  the  Revolution.  The  barrel  of  the  lower  gun 
has  been  shortened. 

(Originals  owned  by  James  E.  Kelly.) 


Firelock  and  Powder 


each  soldier  have  a  good  musket  that  would 
carry  an  ounce  ball,  a  bayonet,  steel  ramrod, 
worm,  priming  wire,  and  brush  fitted  thereto, 
a  cutting-sword  or  tomahawk,  a  cartridge-box 
to  contain  twenty-three  rounds  of  cartridges, 
twelve  flints,  and  a  knapsack.  The  barrel  was 
to  be  three  and  a  half  feet  long.  In  time  Con 
gress  established  a  Continental  gun-factory  at 
Lancaster,  Penn.,  and  a  gun-lock  factory  at 
Trenton.1 

When  the  militia  soldier  provided  his  own 
firelock  his  contribution  to  the  cause  was  con 
siderable  for  those  days.  In  Massachusetts  a 
gun  and  bayonet  were  estimated  by  the  Provin 
cial  Congress  to  be  worth  £2  ; 2  in  Pennsylvania 
in  1776  a  gun  brought  about  the  same  sum.  In 
Virginia  in  1778  a  gun  appears  to  have  been 
worth  from  ^3  to  £$,  and  a  rifle  a  pound  or  two 
more;  a  drum  was  valued  at  half  as  much.  At 
this  time  £$  would  buy  about  fifteen  cords  of 
wood,  pay  a  laborer  for  two  weeks'  work,  or  pur 
chase  some  fifty  bushels  of  coal.3 

The  flintlock,  or  firelock  as  it  was  commonly 
called,   was  an  effective   weapon    when   supple- 
journals  of  Congress,  May  23,  1776. 
2 Journals,  October  25,  1774. 
3  Virginia  Historical  Magazine,  January,  1899,  pp.  280—283. 

[  107  ] 


'The  Private  Soldier    Under   Washington 

mented  by  earthworks.  At  Bunker  Hill,  after 
two  splendid  but  ineffective  advances  against  the 
Americans  in  their  hastily  formed  defences,  Gen 
eral  Howe  saw  that  the  bayonet  was  his  last  re 
source  to  silence  their  destructive  fire.  At  Long 
Island  the  British  used  the  bayonet  with  deadly 
effect,  by  receiving  the  fire  of  Washington's  men 
and  charging  before  they  could  reload.1  Therein 
lay  the  weakness  of  the  firelock,  for  the  manner 
of  loading  was  clumsy  and  slow.  The  end  of 
the  cartridge — a  paper  case  filled  with  ball  and 
powder — was  bitten  off,  and  a  little  powder  was 
sprinkled  on  the  pan;2  the  remainder  of  the  con 
tents  was  then  dropped  into  the  muzzle  of  the 
barrel  and  held  in  by  ramming  down  the  car 
tridge-case  like  a  wad.  The  powder  in  the 
flash-pan,  ignited  by  sparks  from  the  contact  of 
a  flint  with  the  "  battery "  (a  piece  of  steel), 
communicated  through  a  hole  with  the  charge 
in  the  barrel.  From  this  description  it  will  be 
evident  that  the  manual  of  exercise  called  for 
movements  more  intricate  in  loading  and  reload- 

1  Lord  Percy's  Letter ;  in  Boston  Public  Library  Bulletin, 
January,  1892,  p.  325.  A  century  before  this  it  was  part  of 
a  musketeer's  training  to  draw  his  sword  when  hard  pressed  in 
stead  of  attempting  to  reload. 

2 Sometimes  "priming  powder,"  of  better  quality,  was  used. 
[  108  ] 


Firelock  and  Powder 


ing  than  were  required  later  when  the  percussion- 
lock  came  into  use. 

Until  the  introduction  of  Baron  Steuben's  plan 
in  1779  the  form  of  exercise  in  the  regiments 
was  influenced  by  the  previous  training  of  the 
colonels  in  English,  French,  or  German  meth 
ods.1  The  English  systems  in  use  in  the  Colo 
nies  before  the  war  naturally  had  the  greatest 
vogue.  In  1757  the  Militia  Bill  was  passed  in 
England  to  provide  32,000  men  for  home  de 
fence,  so  that  the  regular  army  could  be  em 
ployed  abroad.  As  the  new  levies  were  to  ex 
ercise  but  one  day  a  week  a  simple  form  of 
discipline  was  desirable ;  and  that  devised  for 
the  county  of  Norfolk  became  so  successful  for 
drilling  militia  that  it  was  known  widely  as  the 
Norfolk  Discipline.  This  plan  was  in  favor  in 
New  England  as  early  as  1768,  when  an  abstract 
was  published  at  Boston ;  and  Timothy  Picker 
ing's  simplification  of  the  Norfolk  was  much  used 
at  the  North  early  in  the  war.  Colonel  Bland's 
Treatise,  published  first  in  1727,  was  more  or  less 
in  use  in  the  South ;  a  copy  had  been  in  Wash 
ington's  library  for  many  years. 

The  Massachusetts  Provincial  Congress,  how 
ever,  had  in  1774  adopted  the  British  army  man- 

1  Steuben's  Memorial  in  Kapp's  Life  (1859),  P-  I27' 

[  109  ] 


The  Private  Soldier  Under  Washington 

ual  of  1764  (known  as  the  "Sixty-fourth"),1 
which,  at  the  time  the  New  Haven  edition  ap 
peared,  was  in  general  use  in  Connecticut,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Massachusetts  Bay.2  The  words  of 
command  and  motions  for  priming,  loading,  and 
firing  a  flintlock  may  be  of  interest  in  this  age 
of  rapid-fire  machine-guns.  The  explanations  are 
not  given  in  full,  as  they  are  very  detailed,  to 
obtain  uniformity  in  company  drill. 

1.  Poise  your  Firelocks  !     -»..-.    2  motions 

1.  (Lock    outward,    firelock    per 

pendicular.) 

2.  (Left  hand  just  above  the  lock 

and  of  an  equal  height  with 
the  eyes.) 

2.  Cock  your  Firelocks  /------    2  motions 

3.  Present!       --------      .     i  motion 

I.   (Six   inches  to  rear  with   right 
foot.    Butt-end  to  shoulder.) 

1  Washington's  own  copies  of  Pickering  and  the  Norfolk  show 
no   signs  of  wear;  of  the  "Sixty-fourth"  he  had  six   copies, 
but  the  one  in  his  library  is  fresh.      His  copy  of  the  later  work 
by  Steuben  bears  annotations  in  MS.  (probably  his  own),  some 
of  which   were  incorporated  into   succeeding    editions.      Sabin 
says  that  copies  of  Pickering's  Easy  Plan  show  much  wear.      It 
was   adopted  by   Massachusetts   in    1776.       See    Catalogue  of 
Washington  Collection  in  Boston  Athenaeum,   pp.    135,    163. 
For  an  opinion  of  the  Norfolk  Discipline  see  the  Monthly  Re 
view,  vol.  21  (London,  1759),  ?•  34°« 

2  Sabin' s  Dictionary,  viii.,  30771. 


Firelock  and  Powder 


4.  Fire  !      ----------i  motion 

5 .  Half-cock  your  Firelocks  !  -   I  motion 

6.  Handle  your  Cartridge  !     -----    i  motion 

i.   (Slap   your    Pouch,    seize   Car 
tridge,  bite  the  top  well  off.) 

7.  Prime!  ----------i  motion 

i.  (Shake  the  powder  into  the  pan.) 

8.  Shut  your  Pans  !     -------2  motions 

9.  Charge  with  Cartridge  f    -----  2  motions 

1.  (Put    the    Cartridge     into     the 

muzzle,  shaking  the  pow 
der  into  the  barrel.) 

2.  (Hand  on  Rammer.) 

10.  Draw  your  Rammers  /-     -----   2  motions 

1 1 .  Ram  down  your  Cartridge  /     -     -     -     -   I  motion 

12.  Return  your  Rammers!      -----   i  motion 

13.  Shoulder  your  Firelocks  !     -----   2  motions 

1.  (Left  hand  under  butt.) 

2.  (Right  hand  thrown  down  at  side.) 

These  actions  were  much  the  same  in  all  the 
manuals,  although  in  the  Norfolk  they  were  be 
gun  chiefly  from  the  shoulder,  and  not,  as  here, 
from  the  "  rest."  Baron  Steuben  made  his  words 
of  command  shorter  and  sharper.  In  the  ma 
noeuvres  greater  divergence  appears. 

At  this  time  there  were  two  serious  objections 
to  the  firelock :  the  soldier  required  so  long  to 
load  and  fire  it  that  a  rapid  advance  of  the  enemy 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

close  upon  the  discharge  found  him  with  no 
weapon  ready  for  defence,  so  that  he  was  apt  to 
be  overcome  with  panic ;  and  the  two  qualities 
of  powder  needed  in  the  cartridge  and  the  pan 
for  'effective  firing  were  difficult  to  obtain. 
Franklin  advocated  the  introduction  of  pikes; 
and  in  a  letter  in  1776  gave  strong  reasons  for 
the  use  of  bows  and  arrows,  claiming  that  a  man 
could  send  four  arrows  for  every  bullet,  that  his 
vision  was  not  clouded  by  smoke,  that  his  enemy 
seeing  the  arrow  (he  could  not  see  a  bullet)  had 
his  attention  diverted  from  his  duty,  and  when 
struck  he  was  less  able  to  fight.1  It  is  interesting 
to  hear  Colonel  Thomson,  a  successful  militia 
officer  of  South  Carolina,  advocate  the  next  year 
for  his  regiment  one  hundred  "complete  rifle 
men  with  good  horses  and  spears." 2 

The  use  of  an  old-time  musket,  which  now 
seems  so  cumbersome,  led  to  frequent  accidents. 
In  August,  1775,  for  example,  a  man  forgot  to 
stop  the  end  of  his  powder-horn ;  he  flashed  the 
powder  in  the  pan  of  his  gun  so  near  to  the  horn 
that  there  was  a  conflagration  which  burned  many 

1  Franklin  to  Charles  Lee.      In  his  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  6, 
p.  2. 

2  Thomson    to    Rutledge,    August    13,     1777;    in    Salley's 
Orangeburg  County,  S.  C.,  p.  452. 

[    112    ] 


Firelock  and  Powder 


soldiers.1  Another  man  lowered  his  gun  to  re- 
cock  it,  when  there  was  a  report  and  the  gun 
"  kicked "  him  in  the  breast,  producing  instant 
death.2  The  force  of  these  firelocks  may  be  il 
lustrated  by  an  accident  that  happened  in  Decem 
ber,  1775 ;  John  M'Murtry,  who  was  cleaning  his 
gun,  put  in  the  priming  and  pulled  the  trigger, 
not  knowing  that  it  carried  a  load ;  the  shot  went 
through  a  double  partition  of  inch  boards,  through 
one  board  of  a  berth,  through  the  breast  of  a  man 
named  Penn,  and  hit  a  chimney,  leaving  its  mark 
there.3 

The  scarcity  of  fire-arms  made  it  necessary  in 
the  autumn  of  1775  for  Washington  to  order 
that  no  soldier  was  to  carry  away  his  arms  if  they 
were  fit  for  use ;  private  property  would  be  ap 
praised  and  purchased.4  In  the  following  Janu 
ary  he  authorized  colonels  to  buy  guns  which  the 
militia  were  willing  to  sell ; 5  and  yet  a  month 
later  2,000  men  in  camp  lacked  arms.6  Colonel 

1  Rev.    B.    Boardman's  Diary ;    in   Massachusetts    Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  May,  1892,  p.  404. 

2  Lieutenant  I.  Bangs' s  Journal,  p.  55. 

3  A.  Wright's  Journal;  in  Historical   Magazine,  July,  1862, 
p.  2ii. 

4  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  233. 

5  Washington's  Orderly  Book,  January  28,  1776. 
6 Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  406. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

Ritzema's  regiment  in  May  possessed  in  all 
ninety-seven  firelocks  and  seven  bayonets.1  In 
July  of  the  critical  summer  of  1776  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  the  army  had  no  arms,2  and  the  New 
York  convention  ordered  that  each  militia-man 
without  arms  should  bring  with  him  a  shovel, 
spade,  pick-axe,  or  a  scythe  straightened  and 
made  fast  to  a  pole.3 

One  method  of  obtaining  weapons  was  to  dis 
arm  all  disaffected  persons,4  and  another  means  of 
increasing  the  supply  was  to  purchase  through 
local  committees  of  safety  the  arms  owned  by 
men  who  for  one  reason  or  another  were  not  like 
ly  to  engage  in  active  service.  In  Pennsylvania 
county  committees  of  safety,  by  authority  of  the 
province  assembly,  appointed  three  collectors  for 
each  township.  These  men  could  call  upon  the 
nearest  colonel  of  militia  for  aid  or  could  bring 
before  the  committees  any  recalcitrants.5 

Congress  urged  upon  the  Colonies  the  need  of 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  65. 

aC.  F.  Adams,  in  American   Historical   Review,  vol.    i,   p. 

65,. 

3  New  York  Convention  Journal,  August  10,  1776;  Wash 
ington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  338. 

4 Journals  of  Congress,  March  14,  1776. 

5  Minutes  Bucks  County  Committee  ;  in  Pennsylvania  Ar 
chives,  zd  series,  vol.  15,  p.  359  et  seq. 

[   "4  ] 


Firelock  and  Powder 


encouraging  gunsmiths,1  and  the  Colonies  them 
selves  imported  large  consignments  of  fire-arms 
from  Bordeaux  in  France.2  Pliarne,  Penet  et 
Cie.,  of  Nantes,  did  a  large  export  business  and 
claimed  that  they  were  able  to  send  arms  and 
powder  directly  from  the  royal  manufactories.3 

Lead  was  to  be  had  with  less  effort;  that  for 
the  campaign  of  1776  was  taken  from  the  statue 
of  King  George  on  the  Bowling  Green  and  from 
the  house-tops  of  New  York ; 4  and  the  amount 
needed  for  the  operations  of  1777  came  from  the 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  November  4,  1775. 

2  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1065. 
*  Ibid.,  vol.  2,  col.   I  147. 

4  Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress,  July  3,  1776. 

The  following  note  is  from  the  Journal  of  Lieutenant  Isaac 
Bangs  (p.  57)  : 

[July  loth,  1776.]  Last  Night  the  Statue  on  the  Bowling 
Green  representing  George  Ghwelph,  alias  George  Rex  .  .  . 
was  pulled  down  by  the  Populace.  In  it  were  4000  Pounds  of 
Lead.  .  .  .  The  Lead,  we  hear,  is  to  be  run  up  into  Mus- 
quet  Balls  for  the  use  of  the  Yankies,  when  it  is  hoped  that  the 
Emanations  of  the  Leaden  George  will  make  as  deep  impressions 
in  the  Bodies  of  some  of  his  red  Coated  &  Torie  Subjects,  & 
that  they  will  do  the  same  execution  in  poisoning  &  destroying 
them,  as  the  superabundant  Emanations  of  the  Folly  &  pretended 
Goodness  of  the  real  George  have  made  upon  their  Minds, 
which  have  effectually  poisoned  &  destroyed  their  Souls,  that 
they  are  not  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  any  Beings  who  have  any 
Pretensions  to  the  Principles  of  Virtue  &  Justice. 

[  "5  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

leaden  spouts  and  window-weights  of  Philadel 
phia.1  As  the  bore  of  the  muskets  differed  in 
size  the  bullet-moulds  were  often  of  various  sizes, 
and  were  joined  together  so  that  a  soldier  could 
make  balls  to  fit  any  firelock.  The  running  of 
balls — running  the  lead  into  the  moulds — was  a 
frequent  duty  in  camp ;  it  was  noted  one  day  by 
David  How  in  his  diary  that  he  went  to  Prospect 
Hill  after  he  had  done  his  "  steant  running  ball."  2 
A  quarter  of  a  pound  of  buck-shot3  or  a  pound 
of  lead  to  be  "  cast  into  ball  to  suit  the  bore  "  was 
a  proper  allowance  for  a  man.4  In  Stark's  regi 
ment  each  man  on  the  day  of  Bunker  Hill  fight 
had  a  flint  in  his  gun,  and  was  served  a  gill-cup 
full  of  powder  and  fifteen  balls  for  his  cartridges.5 
Powder  was  the  crying  need  through  much  of 
the  war.  As  early  as  1774,  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  of  Massachusetts  made  an  effort  to  provide 
powder;  in  December,  Connecticut  sought  to 
obtain  more  powder,  and  Mr.  Shaw,  a  New  Lon- 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  I,  col.  366  ;  see  also  Journals 
of  Congress,  July  31,  1775.  There  was  also  a  good  lead  mine 
in  Virginia. 

2D.  How's  Diary,  pp.  5,  30. 

3  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  April  19,  1776. 

4  Orderly    Book    of    the     Northern    Army    at    Ticonderoga 
(1859),  p.  24.  ^ 

5  Quoted  in  Trevelyan's  American  Revolution,  pt.  I,  p.  331. 

t   116  ] 


( • 


Firelock  and  Powder 


don  ship-owner,  offered  a  swift  vessel  to  go  to  the 
West  Indies  for  this  purpose.1  "  To  maintain  a 
post  within  musket-shot  of  the  enemy  for  six 
months  together,"  said  Washington,  "  without 
[powder],2  and  at  the  same  time  to  disband  one 
army  [i.e.,  of  1775]  and  recruit  another  within 
that  distance  of  twenty-odd  British  regiments, 
is  more,  probably,  than  ever  was  attempted."8 
Every  effort  was  made  to  purchase  powder,  to 
encourage  the  manufacture  of  it,  and  to  have  the 
people  save  nitre  and  sulphur.4  The  Provincial 
Congress,  two  months  before  the  battle  of  Lexing 
ton  took  place,  resolved  to  appoint  a  committee 
to  draw  up  directions  "  in  an  easy  and  familiar 
style  "  for  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre,  these  to 
be  printed  and  sent  to  every  town  and  district  in 
the  province  at  the  public  expense.5  Further 
more,  the  Congress  agreed  to  purchase  all  the 
saltpetre  manufactured  in  the  province  for  the 
next  twelve  months  at  a  stated  price.  After  the 
passage  of  this  act  a  "  simple  countryman,"  it  is 

1  Caulkins's  New  London,  p.  508. 

2  The  word  was  omitted  lest  the  letter,  if  it  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  should  disclose  Washington's  precarious  condition. 

3  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  313. 
4Weeden's  Economic  and  Social  History,  vol.  2,  p.  789. 

5  Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  February  15, 
1775- 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

said,  brought  into  the  House  half  a  bushel  of 
saltpetre  which  he  had  made,  and  promised  that 
more  could  be  made  in  eight  months  than  the 
province  had  money  to  pay  for.  His  method, 
the  same  as  that  described  in  the  official  Water- 
town  pamphlet,  is  (in  the  language  of  a  contem 
porary  letter)  "  to  take  the  earth  from  under  old 
houses,  Barns,  &c.,  &  put  it  lightly  into  a  hogs 
head  or  Barrel ;  &  then  fill  it  with  water,  wch 
immediately  forms  a  lie.  This  lie  he  then  puts 
into  an  ashes  leach  that  has  all  the  goodness  ex 
tracted  before,  this  being  only  as  a  strainer.  After 
it  is  run  thro'  wch,  he  boils  the  Lie  so  clarified  to 
a  certain  Consistance,  &  then  puts  it  to  cool, 
when  the  saltpetre  forms,  &  is  immediately  fit  for 
use ;  &  from  every  Bushel  of  earth  he  produces 
Y^  lb.  saltpetre.  On  this  information  .  .  .  the 
Act  was  suppressed  for  Amendment."1 

The  Congress  at  Philadelphia  aided  in  the 
quest  for  powder  by  authorizing  suspension  of 
the  non-importation  agreement  in  the  case  of 
vessels  bringing  gunpowder  or  sulphur  (with 
four  times  as  much  saltpetre),  or  brass  field- 
pieces,  or  muskets  with  bayonets,  allowing  them 
to  carry  out  the  same  value,  generously  esti- 

1  Joseph  Barrell  to  Joseph  Green,  November  3,  1775  ;  in 
Boston  in  1775  (Ford),  p.  37. 

[  118  ] 


Firelock  and  Powder 


mated,  in  produce  from  the  Colonies.1  Congress, 
on  June  10,  1775,  recommended  to  the  several 
towns  and  districts  in  the  Colonies  that  they  col 
lect  all  their  saltpetre  and  sulphur,  to  be  sent 
from  the  northern  colonies  to  New  York,  from 
the  central  colonies  to  Philadelphia,  and  from 
those  farther  south  to  their  committees  and  con 
ventions  to  be  manufactured  into  gunpowder. 

The  committee  of  safety  in  Philadelphia  not 
only  published  the  description  of  a  process  for 
making  saltpetre,  but  called  upon  the  local  com 
mittee  of  each  county  to  send  two  persons  to 
learn  the  business  at  their  works;  these  men 
when  trained  were,  at  the  committee's  expense, 
to  travel  from  town  to  town  for  the  purpose  of 
instructing  others  in  the  art.2 

The  flint  was  characteristic  of  the  gun  of  this 
period.  The  blunderbuss,  a  short  gun  with  a 
large  bore,  clumsy  and  inaccurate  of  aim,  had 
nearly  passed  out  of  use ; 3  the  old-time  slow 
match  which  ignited  the  priming-powder  had 
given  way  to  the  grooved  wheel  with  serrated 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  July  15,  1775. 

2  Minutes  Bucks  County  Committee  of  Safety  ;  in  Pennsyl 
vania  Archives,  zd  series,  vol.   15,  p.  354. 

3 Journals  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  (Lincoln), 
p.  526. 


"The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

edges,  rotating  against  a  flint,  and  this  in  turn 
passed  out  of  use  when  the  flint  was  fastened 
into  the  jaws  of  the  cock  and  sprung  against  the 
steel  hammer  or  cover-plate  of  the  flash-pan. 
Each  man  when  possible  had  at  least  two  flints,1 
and  also  a  wooden  "  driver"  or  "  snapper,"  which 
was  substituted  for  the  flint  at  the  time  of  ex 
ercise  to  prevent  unnecessary  wear  of  the  stone. 
A  good  flint  would  fire  sixty  rounds  before  it 
had  to  be  repaired,  but  the  habit  of  snapping  the 
lock  was  so  prevalent  that  few  flints  did  so  much 
service.2 

Flints  were  not  easily  obtained  and  workmen 
who  could  shape  them  were  few.  When  "  a 
vein  of  prodigious  fine  black  flint  stone "  was 
discovered  upon  Mount  Independence  (near  Ti- 
conderoga)  in  1776,  the  commanding  officers  of 
regiments  were  ordered  to  inquire  if  there  were 
among  their  soldiers  any  old  countrymen  who 
understood  the  hammering  of  flints.3 

1  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  p.  29. 

2  Washington's  Orderly  Book,  May  21,  1776  ;  in  his  Writ 
ings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.    100.      General  Greene,  in  his  orders 
May  29,  1776,  directed   as   a  penalty  for   snapping   locks  two 
days  and  nights  confinement  on  bread  and  water.     (Long  Island 
Historical  Society  Memoirs,  vol.  3,  pt.  2,  p.  14.) 

3 Lieutenant    E.  Elmer's  Journal;  in   New  Jersey  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  vol.  3  (1849),  p.  41. 
[    120    ] 


Musket,  powder-horn,  bullet-flask,  and  buck-shot  pouch  carried 
in  the  Revolution  (lent  to  the  Bostonian  Society  by  George  B. 
Dexter,  Esq.).  Drum  carried  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 


Firelock  and  Powder 


At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  farmers  had 
their  powder-horns,  many  of  which  bore  designs 
and  phrases  expressing  the  sentiments  of  their 
owners.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  paper  cyl 
inders  filled  with  powder  and  balls,  and  bound 
at  either  end  with  jack-thread,  were  more  ser 
viceable.  They  were  ready  for  use  in  an  emer 
gency  and  in  time  of  rain  or  snow;  on  the  other 
hand,  they  could  not  be  withdrawn  except  by 
firing  the  gun,  and  when  powder  was  scarce  the 
battalion  or  regimental  guards  (quarter-guards 
they  were  called)  were  instructed,  it  would  seem, 
to  charge  their  pieces  with  powder  and  "run 
ning  "  (loose-fitting  *?  )  balls  that  there  might  be 
no  waste  of  ammunition.1  The  number  of  rounds 
carried  by  each  man  was  less  than  the  British 
regulars  had  at  almost  every  period  of  the  war, 
owing  to  the  scarcity  of  cartridge-paper  and  pow 
der.  At  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  most  of  the 
men  are  said  to  have  fired  thirty  rounds.2  In 
the  Quebec  expedition  Arnold's  men  had  only 
five  rounds  apiece,3  and  during  the  winter  of 

1  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  October, 
1876,  p.  94;  June,  1875,  p.  90. 

2 Letter  of  Jesse  Lukens,  September,  1775  ;  in  Boston  Public 
Library,  Historical  Manuscripts,  No.  I,  p.  25. 

3 American  Historical  Review,  vol.  I,  p.  296. 


The  Private   Soldier   Under  Washington 

1775-76  Washington  felt  that  he  could  not  risk 
more  than  twelve  or  fifteen  rounds  at  a  time  in 
the  hands  of  the  men.1  Later  on  the  Continen 
tal  soldiers  carried  as  many  as  twenty-five  or 
forty  rounds  to  be  used  against  the  sixty  of  the 
regulars.2 

Given  the  firelock  with  powder  and  balls, 
there  was  still  to  be  considered  the  man  behind 
it ;  his  skill  and  courage  were  worthy  the  atten 
tion  of  the  Commander  himself.  In  his  book  of 
orders,  under  date  of  June  29,  1776,  Washington 
said  to  his  soldiers  : 

"  He  [the  General]  recommends  to  them  to 
load  for  their  first  fire  with  one  musket  ball  and 
four  or  eight  buck  shot,  according  to  the  size 
and  strength  of  their  pieces ;  if  the  enemy  is  re 
ceived  with  such  a  fire  at  not  more  than  twenty 
or  thirty  yards  distant,  he  has  no  doubt  of  their 
being  repulsed."'-  When  placed  behind  earth 
works  or  a  stone  wall  this  had  proved  the  best  of 
devices.  In  the  open  field  enough  disciplined 
troops  would  survive  such  a  fire  to  fall  upon 
the  raw  recruits  with  fixed  bayonets  before  they 
could,  in  their  inexperience,  load  and  deliver  a 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  387. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  3,  p.  426  ;  vol.  4,  p.  201  ;   vol.  6,  p.  71. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  4,  p.  194. 

[    122    ] 


Firelock  and  Powder 


second  volley ; *  but  the  regulars  were  scarcely  a 
match  for  the  militia  when  protected  by  earth 
works. 

Officers  constantly  advised  the  militia  to  hold 
their  fire  until  the  enemy  approached  to  within 
a  few  yards  of  their  defences ;  they  gave  orders 
also  to  aim  with  care,  for  they  knew  that  many 
in  the  ranks  were  marksmen.  When  500  vol 
unteers  were  to  be  levied  in  the  mountains  of 
Virginia  in  1775,  so  many  men  came  forward 
that  the  commanding  officer  made  his  selection 
by  a  trial  of  skill.  A  board  one  foot  square 
bearing  a  chalk  outline  of  a  nose  was  nailed  to  a 
tree  at  a  distance  of  150  yards,  or  about  the  space 
covered  by  fifteen  to  twenty  houses  in  a  modern 
city  block.  Those  who  came  nearest  the  mark 
with  a  single  bullet  were  to  be  enlisted.  The 
first  forty  or  fifty  men  who  shot  cut  the  nose  en 
tirely  out  of  the  board.2 

At  Bunker  Hill  the  American  works  were 
silent  until  the  British  were  within  forty  yards, 
and  where  companies  of  grenadiers  had  stood, 
three  out  of  four,  even  nine  out  of  ten  in 
some  places,  lay  dead  or  wounded  in  the  long 

^ee  note  No.  i,  p.  108. 

2  John  Harrower's  Diary  ;  in  American  Historical  Review, 
October,  1900,  p.  100. 

[  123] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

grass.1  A  Scotchman  living  in  Virginia  said 
two  months  later  that  the  slaughter  of  June  lyth 
was  to  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  the  Amer 
icans  "  took  sight "  when  they  fired. 

^revelyan's  American  Revolution,  pt.   i,  p.  328;   Percy  to 
his  father,  June  19,  1775  (MS.  letters  at  Alnvvick). 


I24 


V 

Officer  and  Private 

IT  is  difficult  to  ascertain  just  what  Washing 
ton  thought  of  the  private  soldiers.  When 
by  a  disgraceful  retreat,  as  once  happened,  he 
was  left  in  imminent  danger  of  capture,  he  was 
incensed  at  the  cowardice  of  his  men ;  when  he 
saw  them  enlist  where  they  were  offered  the 
largest  bounty,  he  scorned  their  avarice ;  but 
when  they  suffered  and  were  patient,  were  tested 
and  proved  loyal  and  courageous,  he  loved  and 
praised  them.  He  put  his  trust  in  the  native 
rank  and  file,  and  chose  for  his  bodyguard  only 
those  born  in  America  or  those  who  were  bound 
to  the  land  by  the  strongest  ties  of  blood.1  The 
privates  bore  hardships  such  as,  in  his  opinion, 
would  have  broken  the  spirit  of  foreign  soldiers. 
In  the  spring  of  1778  he  wrote  from  Valley 
Forge  :  "  To  see  men,  without  clothes  to  cover 
their  nakedness,  without  blankets  to  lie  on,  with 
out  shoes  by  which  their  marches  might  be 
1  Historical  Magazine,  vol.  2,  p.  131. 

[  125  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

traced  by  the  blood  from  their  feet,  and  almost 
as  often  without  provisions  as  with  them,  march 
ing  through  the  frost  and  snow,  and  at  Christmas 
taking  up  their  winter  quarters  within  a  day's 
march  of  the  enemy  without  a  house  or  hut  to 
cover  them,  till  they  could  be  built,  and  submit 
ting  to  it  without  a  murmur,  is  a  proof  of  pa 
tience  and  obedience  which  in  my  opinion  can 
scarce  be  paralleled." 1  Colonel  John  Laurens,  a 
young  officer  at  head-quarters,  shows  in  his  let 
ters  a  frank  affection  for  the  men  whom  he  de 
sired  to  command.  "  I  would  cherish,"  he  said, 
"those  dear,  ragged  Continentals,  whose  patience 
will  be  the  admiration  of  future  ages,  and  [I] 
glory  in  bleeding  with  them."2  From  the  words 
of  Washington  and  of  Laurens  it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  the  rank  and  file  were  kindly 
remembered  in  the  deliberations  of  those  who 
formed  the  Commander's  official  family. 

Washington  knew  the  trials  of  the  men  who 
served  under  him ;  his  kindly  heart  tempered  the 
course  of  justice  because  he  could  measure  the 
strength  of  their  temptations.  But  officers  were 
not  always  men  of  character — or,  to  use  the  old 
word,  men  of  true  quality — and  the  private,  rea- 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  6,  p.  487. 

2  Army  Correspondence  of  Colonel  John  Laurens,  p.  136. 

t  126  ]  ' 


Officer  and  Private 


sonably  patient  under  almost  unheard-of  priva 
tion  and  suffering,  chafed  beneath  the  yoke  of 
militarism.  At  the  South  the  owner  of  a  plan 
tation,  having  large  opportunities  for  culture  by 
means  of  his  great  wealth,  commanded  respect, 
and  having  many  servants  he  grew  to  exercise 
the  voice  of  authority.  At  the  North  there  was 
none  of  this,  and  a  distinction  between  officer  and 
man  did  not  prevail  in  the  rural  militia  of  New 
England.1  This  was  due,  in  part  at  least,  to  the 
levelling  influence  of  small  farms.  The  private's 
company  officers  were  not  infrequently  his  inti 
mate  friends  or  even  his  inferiors,  men  who  had 
devoted  their  time  to  the  local  militia  organiza 
tion  and  had  become  familiar  with  drill  and  tac 
tics  while  he,  perhaps,  was  busy  with  other  mat 
ters.  The  private  could  not  understand  why  he 
should  salute  such  neighbors  because  they  were 
in  camp,  or  why  he  should  ask  of  them  per 
mission  to  go  beyond  the  lines.  When  the  men 
gathered  at  the  siege  of  Boston  they  were  at  first 
allowed  much  liberty ;  a  soldier,  wishing  to  go 
home  for  a  few  days,  wrote  a  letter  to  a  friend  or 
relative  and  asked  him  to  come  to  camp  as  a  sub 
stitute.2  Before  many  weeks  had  passed  the  men 

1  See  also  Franklin's  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  4,  p.  245. 

2  Green's  Groton  During  the  Revolution,  p.  8. 

[  127  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

noticed  the  increasing  rigor  of  army  discipline. 
Even  a  man  of  superior  education,  Rev.  William 
Emerson,  commented  upon  the  "great  distinction 
made  between  officers  and  soldiers,"  where  every 
one  was  made  to  know  his  place  and  keep  in  it, 
on  pain  of  receiving  thirty  or  forty  lashes.1 

Intelligent  opinion  was,  on  the  whole,  against 
the  popular  social  philosophy  of  the  day,  when 
applied  to  army  life.  Joseph  Reed,  writing  to 
his  wife  October  11,  1776,  remarks:  "Where 
the  principles  of  democracy  so  universally  pre 
vail,  where  so  great  an  equality  and  so  thorough 
a  levelling  spirit  predominates,  either  no  disci 
pline  can  be  established,  or  he  who  attempts  it 
must  become  odious  and  detestable,  a  position 
which  no  one  will  choose.  You  may  form  some 
notion  of  it  when  I  tell  you  that  yesterday  morn 
ing  a  captain  of  horse,  who  attends  the  General 
from  Connecticut,  was  seen  shaving  one  of  his 
men  on  the  parade  near  the  house."  2  The  same 
impression  was  gained  by  James  Wilkinson,  who 
noticed  in  the  camp  at  Boston  but  little  distinc 
tion  between  colonel  and  private.3  Graydon  is 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Sparks),  vol.  3,  p.  491. 
2 Joseph    Reed's  Life  and   Correspondence  (1847),  vol.    I, 
p.  243  ;  also  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  994. 
3J.  Wilkinson's  Memoirs  (1816),  vol.   i,  p.   16. 

r  128  i 


Officer  and  Private 


another  witness ;  he  recalls  the  story  of  Colonel 
Putnam,  chief  engineer  of  the  army,  who  was  seen 
with  a  large  piece  of  meat  in  his  hand.  u  What," 
said  a  friend,  "  carrying  home  your  rations  your 
self,  Colonel?"  "Yes,"  he  replied,  "  and  I  do  it  to 
set  the  officers  a  good  example."  And  Graydon 
adds  that  if  Putnam  had  seen  any  aristocratic  ten 
dencies  in  the  army  they  must  have  been  of  very 
recent  origin  and  due  to  southern  contamination. 
It  was  not  at  all  uncommon  for  company  or 
even  regimental  officers  to  give  to  their  sons  or 
younger  brothers  positions  which  were  below 
commissioned  rank.1  But  rank  came  to  be  more 
jealously  guarded  as  time  went  on.  In  1779,  at 
a  brigade  court-martial,  Captain  Dexter,  for  be 
havior  unbecoming  the  character  of  an  officer 
and  a  gentleman  in  frequently  associating  with 
the  wagon-master  of  the  brigade,  was  sentenced 
to  be  discharged  the  service.2  Earlier  in  the  war 
Lieutenant  Whitney,  "  for  infamous  conduct  in 
degrading  himself  by  voluntarily  doing  the  duty 
of  an  orderly  sergeant,"  was  sentenced  to  be  se 
verely  reprimanded.3  Among  a  rural  people  at 

1  Graydon's  Memoirs,  p.  147. 

2  Colonel  Israel  Angell's  Diary,  p.  37,  note. 

3  General    Orders,    Ticonderoga,    October    3,     1776.       In 
American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.   1082. 

[    129  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  North  the  lieutenant's  act  of  kindness  could 
hardly  have  merited  severity,  except  as  it  injured 
discipline  in  other  regiments.  In  the  South  more 
was  expected ;  Captain  Barnard  Elliott's  Diary 
has  this  entry  ; 

"  The  Lieut.  Col.  cannot  think  the  Major 
could  so  far  have  overlooked  the  officers'  com 
mand  and  authority  as  to  order  Shepherd  (a  pri 
vate)  to  take  a  power  only  due  to  an  officer ; 
he  assures  the  regiment  that  in  future  if  an  officer 
suffers  his  prerogative  to  be  trampled  upon  which 
he  ought  to  support,  he  will  be  considered  by 
him  as  a  man  wanting  in  that  essential  which 
constitutes  the  officer." 1  The  practical  results  of 
the  doctrine  of  equality,  when  put  in  force,  were 
occasionally  made  evident  by  disorder  and  mu 
tiny.2 

While  the  lack  of  a  proper  difference  in  pay 
for  the  officer  and  the  private  may  have  justified 
in  the  mind  of  the  private  this  attitude  of  equal 
ity,  it  could  not  have  been  the  dominating  in 
fluence  among  the  troops  from  New  England,  if 
it  was  among  those  from  the  middle  and  south 
ern  colonies.  Washington  calls  it  "  one  great 

1  Charleston  Year  Book,  1889,  p.  256. 

2  Case   cited    by   Colonel   Weissenfels,    July    6,    1776.      In 
American  Archives  V.,  vol.   I,  col.  41. 

[  130  ] 


Officer  and  Private 


source  of  familiarity."  l  But  the  farmer  of  to-day 
is  more  jealous  of  his  right  of  familiarity  with 
the  rich  than  with  the  poor,  and  more  watchful 
as  his  neighbor  prospers.  To  his  reasoning  a 
larger  income  brings  no  enlarged  prerogative  in 
social  affairs.  Where  social  distinctions  were 
closely  observed,  as  in  the  South,  a  marked  differ 
ence  in  pay  was  more  essential  to  the  manage 
ment  of  the  rank  and  file.  But  the  difficulty 
existed,  and  Washington  wrote  to  the  president 
of  Congress,  September  24,  1776:  "While  those 
men  consider  and  treat  him  [an  officer]  as  an 
equal,  and,  in  the  character  of  an  officer  regard 
him  no  more  than  a  broomstick,  being  mixed 
together  as  one  common  herd,  no  order  nor  dis 
cipline  can  prevail." 2 

What  was  the  governing  cause  of  this  trou 
ble  ?  Many  have  answered  the  question  in 
much  the  same  words.  Captain  John  Chester,  of 
Connecticut,  soon  after  the  experience  at  Bunk 
er  Hill,  commented  upon  the  fear  of  all  officers, 
"  from  the  Cap1  General  to  a  corporal,"  that 
the  people  would  brook  no  exercise  of  authority, 
and  added  the  significant  words  :  "  The  most  of 
the  companies  of  this  Province  [meaning  Massa- 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  141. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  4,  p.  443. 


The  Private   Soldier   Under   Washington 

chusetts  Bay]  are  commanded  by  a  most  Despic 
able  set  of  officers." 1 

One  explanation  needs  no  proof  to  convince 
us  of  its  truth.  Where  officers  depended  for 
their  commissions  upon  their  ability  to  raise  com 
panies  or  to  persuade  companies  to  serve  under 
them,  the  test  was  of  popularity  and  not  of  mil 
itary  skill.  It  proved  impossible  in  Massachu 
setts  for  many  men  to  play  the  double  role  of 
recruiting  officer  and  disciplinarian  before  the 
same  body  of  soldiers  with  success.  Several  of 
ficers  who  would  have  made  excellent  privates  or 
officials  in  civil  employment  were  turned  out  of 
the  army  in  disgrace  before  the  war  was  fairly 
begun. 

If  discipline  depends  upon  those  in  command, 
what  could  be  expected  at  Bunker  Hill  of  a 
company  whose  captain  ordered  the  men  to 
march  into  battle,  promising  to  "  overtake  them 
directly,"  and  never  appearing  until  the  next 
day  ? 2  "I  have,"  said  Washington,  "  already 
broke  one  Col°.  and  five  Captains  for  Coward 
ice,  or  for  drawing  more  Pay  &  Provisions  than 
they  had  Men  in  their  Companies."3  General 
Lee  and  Captain  Chester  both  speak  of  the  ab- 

1  Boston  in  1775  (Ford),  p.   15. 

*  Ibid.,  p.   14.        3  Ibid.,  p.  29. 

[    132   ] 


Officer  and  Private 


sence  of  officers  from  Bunker  Hill,  of  lack  of 
discipline,  and  of  readiness  to  retreat  among 
many  companies  of  privates  who  had  not  so 
much  as  a  corporal  to  command  them.1 

Men  who  had  had  little  or  no  discipline  at 
home  needed  a  strong  hand  in  camp,  but  a  hand 
that  they  could  respect.  "  As  to  the  materials 
(I  mean  the  private  men),"  wrote  Charles  Lee, 
"  they  are  admirable — young,  stout,  healthy,  zeal 
ous,  and  good  humor'd  and  sober.  " 2  "  But,"  to 
quote  Joseph  Hawley,  "there  is  much  more 
cause  for  fear  that  the  officers  will  fail  in  a  day 
of  trial  than  the  privates."  8  It  was  the  officers 
who  failed  in  their  duty  (if  failure  there  was)  at 
Bunker  Hill ; 4  they  were  the  drill-masters  on  the 
green,  but  when  the  best  stuff  of  the  town  was 
put  under  them  and  they  were  no  longer  merely 
drill-masters  but  leaders,  they  could  not  fill  the 
measure.  They  were  not  always  gentlemen,  in 
so  far  as  that  term  implies  leadership  in  thought 

Boston  in  1775  (Ford),  pp.  14,  23. 

2  Lee  to  S.   Deane,  July    20,    1775.      In   Boston  in   1775 
(Ford),  p.  22. 

3  Hawley  to  Washington.    In  Washington's  Writings  (Ford), 
vol.  3,  p.  1 8. 

4  Washington,   July   21,  1775.      In  Ibid.,  vol.    3,   p.    32. 
See  also   Dr.    Belknap's   opinion,   in    Massachusetts    Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  June,  1875,  p.  92. 

[  133  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

and  action.  Some  were  petty,  mercenary,  over 
bearing,  and  themselves  ill-trained  to  obey  their 
official  superiors.  "  These  N.  England  men," 
said  Lee,  the  professional  soldier,  "  are  so  defec 
tive  in  materials  for  officers,  that  it  must  require 
time  to  make  a  real  good  army  out  of  'em." 1 
The  same  sentiment  was  voiced  in  almost  the 
same  words  by  another  famous  general  of  the 
war,  Nathanael  Greene.  "  We  want  nothing," 
he  said,  "  but  good  officers  to  constitute  as  good 
an  army  as  ever  marched  into  the  field.  Our 
men  are  much  better  than  the  officers."2  It  would 
not  be  well  to  condemn  many  for  the  failings 
which  were  too  evident  in  a  few ;  but  the  testi 
mony  of  men  like  Lee  and  Greene  suggests  that 
when  the  private  fell  short  in  discipline  and 
obedience,  as  frequently  happened,  he  was  not 
alone  at  fault. 

The  charge  was  once  made  that  the  rank  and 
file  served  for  money,  while  the  liberties  of  Amer- 

1  Lee    to    R.     Morris,    quoted     in    Washington's    Writings 
(Ford),  vol.  3,  p.    215.      Ebenezer   Hundngton    held  a   sim 
ilar  opinion  ;  see    a  letter  dated  June  29,  1775,   in  American 
Historical     Review,    July,    1900,    p.    705.       Graydon,   in    a 
rather  unpleasant  spirit,  emphasizes  the  lack  of  men  of  the  world 
and  those  of"  decent  breeding  "  among  New  England  officers. 
(Memoirs,  p.   157.) 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  441. 

[  134  ] 


Officer  and  Private 


ica  were  preserved  by  the  patriotism  of  officers. 
In  this  connection  a  half-serious  remark  of  Wash 
ington's,  reported  by  an  officer  at  Valley  Forge, 
seems  applicable.  "  So  many  resignations  of  of 
ficers,"  said  he,  "  that  his  Excellency  expressed 
fears  of  being  left  alone  with  the  soldiers." 1  These 
resignations,  if  we  may  believe  Colonel  Reed,  were 
sometimes  prompted  by  cowardice.  "  I  am  sorry 
to  say,"  he  writes  in  1 776,  "  too  many  officers  from 
all  parts  leave  the  army  when  danger  approaches. 
It  is  of  the  most  ruinous  consequences."2  A  fail 
ing  among  officers  which  was  happily  much  less 
common  than  mediocrity  or  even  cowardice  was 
that  of  theft  or  embezzlement.  The  soldiery 
were  nearly  helpless  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
withheld  the  pay  of  their  men  from  month  to 
month  until  mustered  out  of  service  or  brought 
to  book  by  a  court-martial.3  The  New  Hamp 
shire  committee  of  safety — to  mention  a  single 
case — voted  August  6,  1776,  that  Lieutenant 
Gilman  pay  over  to  his  men  the  coat  -  money 
which  he  had  the  previous  year  received  for 

1  Dr.    A.    Waldo* s    Diary  ;  in    Historical    Magazine,  June, 
1861,  p.  169. 

2  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.   1036. 

3  Ibid.,   vol.    2,    col.     1128.      The   case    of  Captain    Byers 
(col.   1278)  is  typical. 

[  135  ] 


'The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

them  and  had  declined  to  deliver.1  It  would  be 
unfair,  perhaps,  to  assume  that  these  malprac 
tices  were  more  evident  in  the  revolutionary 
army  than  in  any  other  army  of  volunteers ;  and 
it  should  be  said  that  the  self-sacrifice  and  hero 
ism  shown  by  officers  all  over  the  Colonies  did 
much  to  put  spirit  into  the  rank  and  file. 

An  officer's  ability  to  command  carries  with  it 
a  presumption  that  there  is  good  discipline  and 
obedience  in  the  ranks.  John  Adams  complained 
that  soldiers  loitered  along  the  country  roads 
and  idled  in  the  taverns.2  In  camp  also,  from 
time  to  time,  there  was  a  lack  of  discipline ;  sol 
diers  were  known  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with 
the  enemy,3  and  careless  sentries  allowed  their 
guns  to  be  stolen  while  they  were  on  duty.4 
The  practice  of  hiring  one's  duties  done  by  an 
other  did  not  sweeten  the  lot  of  the  poorer  sol 
dier,5  although  this  could  hardly  have  been  of 
frequent  occurrence.  Refusing  to  do  duty,  or 
threatening  to  leave  the  army,6  were  not  uncom- 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  I,  col.  609. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  438. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  3,  p.  26.      Also  Army  Correspondence  of  Col 
onel  John  Laurens,  p.  70. 

4  Orderly  Book  of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p.  108. 

5  Essex  Institute  Collections,  vol.  14,  p.  63. 

6 Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  58. 
[    136  ] 


Officer  and  Private 


mon  breaches  of  discipline,  brought  about  often 
by  the  unreasonable  conduct  of  officers.  Tim 
othy  Burnham,  corporal,  for  keeping  "  Seymore  " 
on  sentry  from  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  until 
seven  the  next  morning,  was  reduced  to  the 
ranks.1  Moses  Pickett  "  for  disobedience  of  or 
ders  and  damning  his  officer "  was  sentenced  to 
receive  thirty  lashes  and  afterward  to  be  drummed 
out  of  the  regiment.2  The  firing  of  guns  in  and 
about  the  camp  was  a  constant  annoyance  that 
could  not  be  stopped,  and  during  the  siege  of 
Boston,  British  soldiers,  hearing  frequent  reports 
followed  by  no  casualties,  came  to  ridicule 
American  marksmanship.8  Many  of  these  acts 
of  insubordination,  however,  are  common  to  all 
armies. 

In  the  winter  of  1780-81,  the  mutiny  of 
the  Pennsylvania  line,  consisting  at  that  time  of 
six  regiments,  was  one  of  the  serious  events  of 
the  war.  The  men  were  in  huts  near  Morris- 
town  under  the  command  of  General  Wayne  ; 
many  of  them  had  been  engaged  for  the  ambig 
uous  term  of  "  three  years  or  the  war,"  and  now 
feared  that  they  might  be  pressed  to  serve  beyond 

1  Essex  Institute  Collections,  vol.   14,  p.  206. 

2  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  81. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  63. 

[    137   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  three-year  period  of  their  enlistment.  At  a 
time  when  recruits  were  receiving  large  bounties 
for  short  service,  their  own  pay  was  already  many 
months  in  arrears,  their  food  was  poor  and  insuf 
ficient,  and  their  ragged  clothes  were  filthy.  Re 
ports  were  current  that  officers  had  used  the  men 
cruelly,  but  these  carried  little  or  no  weight. 
The  first  day  of  the  new  year  was  celebrated  with 
an  undue  allowance  of  spirits,  and  soon  the  men 
were  ready  to  be  stirred  to  rebellion  by  the  pict 
ure  of  their  sufferings  artfully  drawn  by  dema 
gogues.  Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  of  the 
same  evening  the  mutiny  broke  out  under  the 
lead  of  Sergeant  Williams,  a  deserter,  poor,  and 
fond  of  drink.  A  number  of  officers  were  killed 
or  injured  in  a  futile  attempt  to  restore  order,  and 
the  men  with  six  pieces  of  artillery  set  off  for 
Princeton.  They  marched  with  "  an  astonish 
ing  regularity  and  discipline,"  allowing  General 
Wayne  and  two  of  his  officers  to  accompany 
them.  On  the  second  day  Wayne  asked  for  a 
conference  with  one  man  chosen  by  the  soldiery 
from  each  regiment,  hoping,  as  he  said,  "  soon  to 
return  to  camp  with  all  his  brother  soldiers  who 
took  a  little  tour  last  evening " ; l  but  the  rank 
and  file  would  not  listen  to  his  proposals,  and  the 

Grille's  Wayne,  p.  252. 
[    138  ] 


Officer  and  Private 


mutineers  marched  again  on  the  4th.  Wash 
ington,  meantime,  apprised  of  events,  was  using 
every  effort  to  bring  about  an  agreement ;  he  asked 
of  the  States  a  suit  of  clothes  for  each  man  and 
three  months,  pay.  Clinton,  of  the  British  army, 
was  not  idle ;  he  sent  a  message,  addressed  "  To 
the  person  appointed  by  the  Pennsylvania  line  to 
lead  them  in  their  present  struggle  for  their  lib 
erty  and  rights,"  in  which  he  offered  to  protect 
them,  pardon  any  of  their  number  for  past  of 
fences,  pay  them  what  was  due  from  Congress, 
and  leave  them  free  to  give  up  military  service  if 
they  wished.  These  were  generous  terms  offered 
by  the  mother-country  to  her  sons  in  rebel 
lion.  As  they  recalled  their  privations,  and 
the  uncertainty  of  their  fate  when  they  should 
again  be  in  the  power  of  Congress,  they  could 
hardly  be  expected  to  disappoint  Clinton.  Yet, 
as  they  put  it,  they  preferred  not  "  to  turn  Ar 
nolds."  1  The  Committee  of  Congress  and  Gov 
ernor  Reed,  for  the  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  of 
fered  terms  which  the  mutineers  accepted.  The 
men  who  had  enlisted  indefinitely  for  three  years 
or  for  the  war  were  to  be  discharged  unless  they 
had  voluntarily  reenlisted,  and  where  the  orig- 

1  Wayne.      Quoted  in  Washington's  Writings    (Ford),  vol. 
9,  p.  97. 

[    139  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

inal  papers  were  not  to  be  had  the  oath  of  the 
soldier  was  to  be  sufficient  evidence.  Certificates 
for  the  depreciation  on  their  pay  were  to  be 
given,  and  arrearages  were  to  be  made  up  as  soon 
as  possible.  Clothing — a  pair  of  shoes,  overalls, 
and  a  shirt — was  to  be  furnished  as  indicated  in 
the  proposals.  Finally,  no  man  was  to  be  brought 
to  trial  or  censured,  but  the  past  was  to  be  buried 
in  oblivion.1  When  these  negotiations  were 
completed  the  British  spies  were  given  up  and 
executed.  Many  of  the  men,  according  to 
Washington's  letter  to  Steuben,  dated  February 
6,  1781,  took  the  oath  before  the  proper  papers 
could  be  procured,  and  by  perjury  got  out  of  the 
service.2  The  New  Jersey  Gazette,  in  a  discussion 
of  the  revolt,  remarks  that  the  satisfactory  con 
clusion  "  will  teach  General  Clinton  that,  though 
he  could  bribe  such  a  mean  toad-eater  as  Arnold, 
it  is  not  in  his  power  to  bribe  an  American  sol 
dier."3  The  unfortunate  affair  was  not  without 
other  lessons,  for  men  who  could  not  be  bribed 

'Stille's  Wayne,  p.  257. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  9,  p.  123.     See  Haz 
ard's   Register   of    Pennsylvania,   vol.    2  ;    Marshall's   Life   of 
Washington  (1805),  vol.  4,  p.  393  ;   Remembrancer,  vol.  II, 
p.  148. 

3  Gazette,  January    17,  1781.     In   F.  Moore's  Diary,  vol. 
2,  P-  374- 


LIBERTY  TREE 


AN  APPEAJITO  GOD 


Probably  a  Massa 
chusetts  flag. 

After  an  old  print. 


AN  APPEALTO  HEAVEN 


The  flag  of  Massa 
chusetts. 

A  white  ground  with  a  pine 
tree  in  the  centre. 


Flag  carried  by 
the  Bedford  Militia 
Company,  at  Con 
cord  Bridge. 

"  It  was  originally  designed  in  England  in  1660-70,  for  the  three  county  troops  of 
Middlesex,  and  became  one  of  the  accepted  standards  of  the  organized  Militia 
of  the  State,  and  as  such  it  was  used  by  the  Bedford  Company." 

WILLIAM  S.  APPLETON,  Mass.  Hist.  Society. 


Flag  carried  by  the 
American     Army 
through  the  South 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution. 


DONT  TREAD  ON  ME 


First  naval  flag. 

A  yellow  flag  with  a  rattle 
snake  in  the  act  of  striking. 


Officer  and  Private 


needed  the  best  efforts  of  the  commissary  de 
partment  in  their  behalf.  The  restless  element 
wanted  a  firm  hand,  also,  if  the  loyal  majority 
was  to  remain  obedient. 

A  few  months  later,  at  Yorktown,  twelve  plot 
ters  stepped  out  before  the  regiments  and  per 
suaded  the  men  to  refuse  to  march  because  the 
promises  made  to  them  had  not  been  kept. 
Wayne  then  addressed  them  earnestly  and  called 
upon  a  platoon  of  soldiers  to  fire  either  upon  him, 
who,  with  his  officers,  had  been  humiliated  by  the 
former  disgrace,  or  upon  the  instigators  of  this 
fresh  mutiny.  At  the  word  of  command  they 
presented  and  fired,  killing  six  of  the  twelve 
leading  rioters.  One  of  the  remaining  six  was 
badly  maimed,  and  Wayne  ordered  a  soldier 
to  use  his  bayonet.  This  the  man  refused  to 
do,  claiming  that  the  mutineer  was  his  comrade. 
The  general  instantly  drew  his  pistol,  and  would 
have  shot  the  soldier  had  he  refused  longer  to 
carry  out  the  order.  General  Wayne  then 
marched  the  regiments  about  the  lifeless  bodies, 
and  ordered  the  five  remaining  mutineers  to  be 
hanged.1 

In  a  recent  work  on  the  French  army,  Decle's 

1  Livingston  to  Colonel  Webb.  In  Washington's  Writings 
(Ford),  vol.  9,  p.  267. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

"  Trooper  3809,"  there  is  evidence  of  much  fric 
tion  between  company  officers  and  men.  While 
something  of  the  kind  was  suggested  as  the  cause 
of  the  mutiny  of  the  Pennsylvania  line,  this  rumor 
never  gained  credence ;  the  want  of  clothing  and 
food  was  too  evident  a  source  of  discontent. 

The  following  order  of  General  John  Rutledge 
of  South  Carolina,  in  1776,  bears  upon  the  rela 
tions  between  officers  and  their  men,  and  it  has 
the  right  spirit ;  it  reads  :  "  Any  officer  that  shall 
strike  a  soldier  at  any  time  hereafter,  whatsoever 
the  provocation  may  be,  such  act  of  striking  shall 
be  imputed  as  an  act  of  cowardice,  save  the 
Major  and  Adjutant  [do  it]  and  that  tenderly 
and  in  the  way  of  their  particular  duty."1 

1  Captain  B.  Elliott's  Diary  ;  in  Charleston  Year  Book, 
1889,  p.  209. 


[  142 


VI 

Camp  Duties 

THE  soldier's  life  was  not  passed  in  idle 
ness.  Uniforms  and  arms  required  daily 
attention  before  the  hour  for  parade,  and 
the  endless  duties  connected  with  cooking,  ob 
taining  fuel,  and  caring  for  the  camp  provided 
work  for  all.  Day  in  camp  began  at  sunrise  with 
the  beating  of  the  reveille,  or  earlier  when  some 
important  movement  was  to  be  executed.  Not 
infrequently  the  exact  moment  of  dawn  was  un 
known  and  the  tired  men  were  called  from  their 
beds  in  the  dark.  Day  was  said,  however,  to  have 
begun  when  a  sentry  could  see  clearly  a  thousand 
yards  around  him,  "  and  not  before." 3  To  farm 
ers'  sons,  unaccustomed  to  shave  frequently,  to 
put  powder  upon  their  hair,  or  to  brush  their 
clothes,  a  constant  regard  for  personal  appear 
ance  became  at  once  oppressive.  '  During  the 
period  of  late  sunrise  the  men  were  instructed  to 
shave  in  the  evening  that  they  might  be  ready 
1  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  53. 
[  H3  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

for  parade  in  the  morning ;  *  and  their  canteens 
were  to  be  filled  at  night  whenever  there  was 
reason  to  expect  an  early  departure  from  camp 
or  an  attack.2 

In  the  opening  years  of  the  war  many  pickets, 
from  ignorance  of  military  life  or  from  careless 
ness,  brought  trouble  upon  themselves;  some 
went  back  to  their  quarters  to  get  provisions, 
leaving  their  posts  unprotected,3  others  sat  down 
in  comfort  under  trees,  and,  as  just  stated,  were 
so  negligent  that  their  guns  were  stolen  from 
their  keeping.4  Colonel  Crafts  at  one  time  threat 
ened  to  punish  those  who  persisted  in  relieving 
themselves  from  duty  without  the  presence  of  a 
corporal.5  In  September,  1775,  the  following 
description  of  military  duty  appears  in  a  letter 
written  by  a  Southern  rifleman  at  Prospect  Hill : 
"  On  Thursday  at  firing  the  morning  Gun  we 
were  ordered  to  Plow'd  Hill,  where  we  lay  all 
that  day — .1  took  my  paper  &  Ink  along  as  you 
once  desired  I  would,  but  found  so  much  to  do 
beside  writing,  that  you  had  only  a  few  lines 

1  Orderly  Book  of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p.  26. 

2  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  219. 

3  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  47. 

4  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  p.  77. 

5  Essex  Institute  Collections,  vol.  14,  p.  64. 

[  144  ] 


Camp  Duties 


manufactured  (in  the  face  of  18  battering  Can 
non)  ;  .  .  .  there  was  too  much  noise  for 
writing  &  the  Generals  appearing  in  sight  I 
tho't  it  not  quite  so  decent  a  Posture  of  a  SOL 
DIER,  thrust  my  writing  materials  under  an  old 
Blanket,  Shouldered  my  firelock,  and  strutted 
with  all  the  parade  of  a  careful  Lad."  : 

As  the  autumn  of  1775  wore  on  the  men  be 
came  accustomed  to  the  routine  and  were  more 
alert,  although  some  failed  to  remember  the 
proper  password  or  countersign,  since  it  was 
changed  every  night.  A  single  sentinel  demanded 
the  countersign  only,  but  the  sentry  next  to 
the  guard,  upon  hearing  someone  approach,  de 
manded,  "  Who  goes  there  ?  "  and  if  many  were 
in  view  he  called  to  the  sergeant  of  the  guard, 
who  ordered  out  his  men  under  arms.  When 
officers  made  the  grand  round  the  sergeant  de 
manded  the  parole — a  watchword  not  known  to 
the  guard — which  he  repeated  to  his  captain.  If 
the  parole  was  given  correctly  he  cried,  "  Grand 
round  pass." 2  General  Ward's  selection  of  the 
parole  and  countersign  was  intended  to  impress 

1  Letter  of  Jesse  Lukens  ;    in  Boston    Public   Library,   His 
torical  Manuscripts,  No.  I,  p.  26. 

2  Major  Ennion  Williams's  Journal,  Pennsylvania  Archives, 
zd  series,  vol.  15,  p.  19. 

[  145] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

wisdom  upon  the  lonely  sentinel,  who  was  forced 
to  remember  the  words  if  he  was  unwilling  to 
accept  their  lesson.  The  parole  Industry  was 
given  with  the  countersign  Wealth^  Neatness  with 
Gentility,  Inoculation  with  Health.  In  time  of  dan 
ger  the  parole  Look  out  with  the  countersign 
Sharp  must  have  suggested  to  the  sentinel  the 
path  of  duty.1 

At  Valley  Forge  there  was  a  chain  of  sentinels 
which  surrounded  the  camp  at  the  distance  of  a 
mile ;  the  men  were  relieved  daily.2  The  fol 
lowing  entry  in  Sergeant  Wild's  journal  while 
at  Warwick,  R.  I.,  illustrates  very  well  the  per 
formance  of  guard  duty.  "  At  sundown,"  he 
writes,  "  I  carried  my  men  to  roll  call.  After  the 
rolls  were  called  I  mounted  guard  with  sixteen 
men  under  my  command.  I  marched  with  my 
men  about  2  miles  towards  the  Point,  where  I 
left  my  guard.  At  1 1  o'clk  I  sent  a  corporal 
and  four  men  out  as  a  patrolling  party,  which 
went  down  to  the  Point  and  all  round  the  shore. 
They  discovered  nothing  remarkable.  Came  in 
again  about  i  o'clk,  at  which  time  I  sent  out  an- 

1  Colonel  I.  Hutchinson's  Orderly    Book  ;  in   Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  Proceedings,  October,  1878,  p.  340  et  seq. 

2  T.    Blake's   Journal,   in    Kidder's    First    New   Hampshire 
Regiment,  p.  40. 

[  146  ] 


Camp  Duties 


other  party,  which  went  the  rounds  as  before  and 
came  in  about  three  o'clk ;  at  which  time  I  sent 
another  party,  which  went  the  rounds  as  usual 
and  came  in  between  4  &  5  o'clk,  and  then  I 
sent  another  party,  which  patrolled  till  daylight 
and  then  came  in  with  the  other  corporal  and 
four  men  from  the  Point.  I  went  to  the  com 
missary's,  and  got  a  gill  of  rum  pr  man.  After  I 
gave  it  to  them  I  dismissed  them." l 

Guard  service  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  and 
sometimes  in  places  of  great  danger,  was  not  the 
least  trying  part  of  the  soldier's  routine,  follow 
ing,  as  it  often  did,  days  of  great  bodily  exertion 
and  fatigue.  He  who  fell  asleep  while  on  duty 
was  punished  by  twenty  lashes  on  the  bare  back, 
or  more  if  the  enemy  was  near  enough  to  make 
the  crime  a  dangerous  one.2  The  hardships 
which  were  endured  called  occasionally  for  a  rec 
ommendation  of  clemency  by  a  court-martial,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  case  of  George  Cook,  who 
was  tried  in  1777  for  sleeping  at  his  post.  Cook 
had  been  ill  of  a  fever  for  several  days  and  unable 
to  sleep ;  the  fresh  air  of  his  lonely  vigil  brought 
relief,  and  he  was  found  fast  asleep,  standing  at 

1 E.  Wild's  Journal,  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.  121. 

2  Orderly  Book  of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p.  56. 

[  147  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

his  place  of  duty.1  When  a  sentinel  deserted  to 
the  enemy  he  became  the  subject  of  comment ; 
"  old  countrymen,"  as  the  soldiers  of  foreign  birth 
were  called,  never  quite  gained  the  confidence  of 
the  army,  and  if  a  man  who  was  reported  as 
"  gone  over  to  the  enemy  "  was  known  to  be  an 
old  countryman  the  fact  was  emphasized  among 
the  rank  and  file  after  the  evening  roll-call.2 

Washington  preferred  "  natives  "  for  sentinels, 
and  later  he  chose  from  them  his  body-guard.3 
He  insisted  that  officers  should  place  as  sentinels 
at  the  outposts  those  whose  characters  were  thor 
oughly  known.  "  He  therefore  orders  that  for 
the  future,  no  man  shall  be  appointed  to  those 
important  stations  who  is  not  a  native  of  this 
country,  or  who  has  a  wife  or  family  in  it,  to 
whom  he  is  known  to  be  attached." 4  Washing 
ton  was  driven  to  prefer  Americans  for  officers, 
also,  when  the  tide  of  adventurers  from  across  the 
sea  set  in  so  strongly  that  it  threatened  to  carry 
Congress  with  it  and  drive  the  native  officers 
into  retirement.  Lafayette,  however,  he  contin- 

1  Putnam's  General  Orders,  August  10,  1777  (p.  52). 

2  E.   Wild's    Journal  ;    in   Massachusetts    Historical    Society 
Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.  96. 

3  Washington's  Revolutionary  Orders  (Whiting),  p.  35. 

4  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  6. 

[  148  ] 


Camp  Duties 


ued  to  treat  with  an  affection  very  like  that  of  a 
father  for  his  son. 

Honor  and  kindness,  while  by  no  means  un 
known  in  war  time,  were  not  as  common  in  the 
Revolution  as  the  best  military  standards  demand. 
Cases  might  be  mentioned  which  did  no  credit 
to  royalist  or  colonist.  "  About  8  o'clock,"  wrote 
John  Clunes  in  March,  1779,  "the  Rebels  sent 
in  a  Flagg  of  truse  to  us  [the  British],  but  Gen. 
Powell  would  not  see  [it]  and  ordered  us  to  fire 
on  them  which  we  did  and  out  of  5  killed  3." 1 

British  treatment  of  the  enemy's  outposts  was 
sometimes  cruel  and  uncalled  for.  The  follow 
ing  note  by  Lieutenant  Eld,  of  the  Coldstream 
Guards,  describes  an  experience  of  his  in  New 
Jersey : 

"  I  was  sent  forward  with  60  Light  Infantry 
to  attack  a  rebel  Picquet  on  the  right  of  the 
main  body  of  the  rebels  who  were  advantageous 
ly  posted  &  fortified  in  a  Church  Yard  at  a 
place  called  Paramus.  The  Picq1  was  placed  at 
the  edge  of  a  wood  with  a  plain  of  half  an  mile 
in  the  rear, — I  surprised  the  Picq1  which  instant 
ly  fled  &  the  most  famous  chase  over  the  plain 
ensued — we  were  in  at  the  death  of  seven. — I 
had  given  orders  that  my  Party  should  not  fire 

1  Note  to  G.  Pausch's  Journal  (1886),  p.   151. 
[    H9  1 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

but  use  their  Bayonets."1  After  reading  these 
words  it  may  be  well  to  recall  an  incident  which 
is  recorded  in  Simcoe's  Journal,  for  it  shows  that 
all  the  inhumanity  was  not  confined  to  King 
George's  men  : 

"  The  rebels  continually  fired  at  night  on  the 
centinels.  ...  A  figure  was  dressed  up  with 
a  blanket  coat,  and  posted  in  the  road  by  which 
the  enemy  would  probably  advance,  and  fires  re 
sembling  a  piquet  were  placed  at  the  customary 
distance ;  at  midnight  the  rebels  arrived,  and  fired 
twenty  or  thirty  shot  at  the  effigy.  .  .  .  The 
next  day  an  officer  happening  to  come  in  with  a 
flag  of  truce,  he  was  shown  the  figure  and  was 
made  sensible  of  the  inhumanity  of  firing  at  a 
sentinel  when  nothing  farther  was  intended." 2 
This  was  not  an  isolated  case,  for  David  How's 
Diary,  under  date  of  October  28,  1776,  states  that 
riflemen  fired  at  the  sentries  of  the  regulars  while 
the  British  army  lay  in  sight,  at  or  near  White 
Plains.3 

The  danger  which  a   sentry  encountered  came 
almost  wholly  from   the  sabre   and  the   musket- 
boston  Public  Library  Bulletin,  January,  1892,  p.  314. 
2J.  G.  Simcoe's  Military  Journal,  p.  173. 
3  How's  Diary,  p.  35.     See  also  Heath's  Memoirs  (1798), 
pp.  62,  63. 

[    ISO  ] 


Camp  Duties 


ball;  but  a  curious  exception  recorded  by  the 
Rev.  Benjamin  Boardman  should  be  noticed 
here.  On  Monday  night,  July  31,  1775,  the 
enemy  opened  fire  upon  the  Continentals  from 
their  works  in  Roxbury,  and  a  cannon-ball  came 
through  the  air  so  close  to  a  sentinel  that  the 
man  was  set  to  whirling  like  a  top.  He  soon 
fell  to  the  ground,  but  was  found  to  be  only 
slightly  injured.1  A  month  earlier  a  soldier  died 
from  the  "wind  of  a  ball,"  as  it  was  called.2 

Camp  life  was  not  devoted  wholly  to  drill  or 
picket  duty  or  cooking,  although  idleness  was 
discouraged.  Cutting  wood,  building  fires,  re 
pairing  huts,  cleaning  arms,  waiting  upon  offi 
cers,  tramping  a  road  through  the  brush  to  facil 
itate  the  hauling  of  firewood,3  serving  in  the 
"  grass  guard  "  to  watch  and  protect  the  horses 
while  feeding,4  or  making  cartridges,6  were  use- 

1  Boardman' s    Diary,    in     Massachusetts    Historical    Society 
Proceedings,    May,    1892,    p.  400.      See    also   Boston   Public 
Library,  Historical  Manuscripts,  No.   I,  p.  28  ;  the  wind  from 
a  twenty-four-pounder  knocked  down  a  man  and  horse. 

2  John  Trumbull's  Autobiography,  New  York,  1841,  p.  21. 
3E.  Wild's  Journal,  December  27,  1778  ;  in  Massachusetts 

Historical  Society  Proceedings,  October,  1890. 

4  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  p.  10. 

5  Essex  Institute  Collections,  vol.  14,  p.  190;  also  Lewis's 
Orderly  Book,  p.  48. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

ful  services  which  kept  the  privates  out  of  mis 
chief.  The  construction  of  earthworks,  building 
of  whale-boats,1  and  other  occupations  incident  to 
a  campaign,  filled  the  men's  time  while  in  more 
active  service.  In  the  expedition  to  Crown 
Point  under  Arnold,  all  hands  were  employed 
on  occasion  in  necessary  work ;  men  were  di 
vided  into  squads,  some  to  bake  bread,  some  to 
go  in  search  of  game  or  to  spend  their  time  in 
fishing,  others  to  cut  timber  or  mount  can 
non.2  In  South  Carolina  seines  were  provided 
for  the  Continental  troops  that  were  detailed 
to  fish.3 

Temporary  field-works  of  earth  were  not  in 
favor  in  Europe  a  century  and  more  ago  ;  they 
were  held  to  be  unmilitary  and  to  foster  coward 
ice.  But  the  defences  thrown  up  at  Bunker 
Hill  in  a  night  proved  effective  in  checking  the 
British  advance ;  the  firelock  behind  loose  earth 
weighed  heavily  against  disciplined  bravery,  and 
the  lesson  once  learned,  the  Continentals  en 
tered  more  and  more  into  the  construction  of 


1  Colonel  Hutchinson's  Orderly  Book,  p.  23. 

2  B.    Arnold's   Regimental    Memorandum    Book,    June    14, 

1775- 

3  Captain  B.  Elliott's  Diary,  in  Charleston  Year  Book,  1889, 
p.  231. 


Camp  Duties 


such  works.1  The  lines  were  first  marked  on  the 
ground  in  the  angular  forms  so  often  shown  in 
illustrated  histories  covering  this  period.  The 
gabions  (u  stakes  interwoven  with  twisted  bun 
dles  of  switches,  like  baskets  without  bottoms") 
were  then  set  on  the  lines,  three  or  four  deep, 
and  earth  dug  up  alongside  was  thrown  in. 
Fascines  ("bundles  of  switches  about  six  feet 
long")  were  then  piled  up  on  the  outside  and 
inside,  and  were  held  in  place  by  stakes,  four 
feet  long,  driven  down  through  them ;  more  fas 
cines  were  laid  on  top  of  the  gabions,  and  the 
whole  was  then  covered  with  earth,  and  with 
sod.  In  the  space  between  the  foot  of  the  outer 
slope  and  the  ditch  or  fosse,  which  was  a  cus 
tomary  part  of  the  works,  wooden  pickets  were 
frequently  planted,  as  was  the  case  at  Bunker 
Hill  in  October,  1775.  Redoubts  sometimes 
had  as  additional  works  half-moon  structures  or 
transes,  as  at  Prospect  Hill.2  Farmers  accus 
tomed  to  handle  the  spade  soon  grew  experienced 
in  this  form  of  labor. 

1  C.    F.    Adams's     Bunker    Hill  ;    in    American    Historical 
Review,  vol.  I,  pp.  411,  412. 

2  Major    Ennion  Williams' s   Journal  ;    in   Pennsylvania    Ar 
chives,  zd  series,  vol.  15,  pp.  16—19.    At  White   Plains  Gen 
eral  Heath  made  three   serviceable  redoubts  of"  earth  and  corn 
stalks.      (Memoirs,  1798,  p.  82.) 

[  153 1 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Expert  artisans  were  called  upon  to  make 
paper  for  bank-notes,1  print  proclamations,  and 
provide  many  articles  in  constant  demand.  These 
men  were  usually  excused  from  all  other  duties, 
and  found  it  to  their  advantage  to  exhibit  their 
ability  when  called  upon.2  The  dearth  of  skilled 
artisans  in  America  is  well  illustrated  by  the 
petition  presented  to  Congress  in  1776,  in  which 
sundry  paper-makers  prayed  that  Nathan  Sellers 
of  Colonel  PaschalPs  battalion  might  be  ordered 
home  "to  make  and  prepare  moulds,  washers 
and  utensils  for  carrying  on  the  paper  manufac 
tory."  3  The  "  gunbarrel-maker,"  the  saltpetre- 
maker,  and  he  of  the  "  nailer's  business  "  were  in 
such  demand  that  they  could  hardly  be  spared 
for  military  service.4  Forges  had  been  set  up 
all  over  the  Colonies,  giving  employment  to 
iron-workers  and  gunsmiths.  The  latter  were  not 
numerous,  and  a  few  of  these  accepted  the  bait  or 
bribe  of  high  wages  in  England,  offered  by  leading 
royalists,  and  left  the  country.5  Some  of  the  sol 
diers  were  ordered  to  act  as  servants  to  their  offi- 

1  Washington's  Orderly  Book  kept  at  Valley  Forge  (Griffin), 
p.  5. 

2  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  p.   19. 

3  Journals  of  Congress,  August  26,  1776. 

4  American    Archives  V.,  vol.   i,  col.   1062. 

5  Weeden's  Economic  and  Social  History,  vol.  2,  p.  795. 

[  154  ] 


Camp  Duties 


cers ;  but  as  this  kept  many  able-bodied  men  from 
active  service  and  led  to  abuses,  it  was  discontin 
ued  by  general  orders  at  Valley  Forge  in  lyyS.1 

Knowledge  of  music  was  also  in  demand.  In 
the  Boston  campaign  the  drums  and  fifes  of  each 
regiment  were  regularly  instructed  by  the  regi 
mental  drum-major  and  fife-major,  and  their 
music  stirred  the  men  as  martial  music  does  to 
day.2  When  drums  were  not  to  be  had,  French 
horns  were  used.3  In  the  campaign  of  1779 
against  the  Six  Nations  two  men  were  cut  down 
by  the  Indians'  tomahawks ;  later  Colonel  Proc 
tor  ordered  his  musicians,  in  passing  the  spot,  to 
play  the  touching  air  of  Roslin  Castle,  "  the  soft 
and  moving  notes  "  of  which  cast  a  hush  upon 
the  regiment  and  awakened  pity  foi  their  com 
rades.4  The  Pioneers  March  was  another  tune 
used  at  the  time.5  The  memory  of  one  master 
of  the  drum  should  be  kept  green,  for  he  helped 
to  while  away  many  tedious  hours  during  the 
Northern  campaign  of  1776.  Tibbals  was  his 

1  Washington's  Revolutionary  Orders  (Whiting),  p.  91. 

2  Colonel    Hutchinson's    Orderly    Book  ;     in    Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  Proceedings,  October,  1878,  p.  347. 

3  Captain  B.  Elliott's  Diary,  in  Charleston  Year  Book,  1889, 
p.  241. 

4  Rev.  William  Rogers' s  Journal,  p.  35. 

5  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  p.   12. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

name,  and  as  the  boatmen  sang  at  their  oars — 
they  were  upon  the  lake — he  would  give  one 
touch  upon  the  drum  which  seemed  to  bring 
every  voice  into  harmony.1  The  soldiers,  half- 
covered  with  water  as  they  lay  in  the  boats,  for 
got  the  loneliness  and  gloom  of  the  darkening 
night ;  the  music  lingered  in  each  man's  memory 
long  after  the  voices  and  drums  were  still.  It  is 
probable  that  Yankee  Doodle  had  little  or  no 
vogue  in  the  army,  and  the  statement  by  An- 
burey  that  the  lively  air  was  "  a  favorite  of  fav 
orites  .  .  .  the  lover's  spell,  the  nurse's  lullaby" 
is  open  to  serious  question.2  At  funerals  the  im 
pressive  tune  Funeral  Thoughts,  with  its  drum-beat 
at  the  end  of  each  line,  was  sometimes  played.3 

Washington  made  use  of  the  artisan  in  the 
army  whenever  it  was  possible,  but  there  were 
many  occasions  when  capable  hands  were  able  to 
turn  a  penny  after  the  soldier's  day  had  closed. 
Early  in  the  war,  barter  and  private  labor  pre 
vailed  among  the  thrifty  to  a  surprising  degree ; 
men  worked  at  their  trades  during  the  hours  be- 

1  Rev.  A.  R.  Robbins's  Journal,  pp.  i  8,  43. 

2T.  Anburey's  Travels,  vol.  2,  p.  50.  Thacher's  Military 
Journal,  p.  128. 

3  Rev.  B.  Boardman's  Diary,  in  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  May,  1892,  p.  411. 

t  156  ] 


Camp  Duties 


tween  the  Retreat,  which  beat  at  sunset,  and  the 
Tattoo,  which  was  sounded  at  eight  or  nine 
o'clock.1  The  makers  of  shoes,  leather  breeches, 
or  caps  earned  money,  and  by  their  work  aided  to 
some  extent  the  efforts  of  the  Colonies  to  clothe 
the  army.  David  How,  a  private  at  the  siege  of 
Boston,  bought  and  sold  cider,  chestnuts,  arms, 
and  clothing.  A  few  lines  from  his  diary  will 
show  the  busy  life  that  a  soldier  might  lead  when 
not  on  duty : 

25  day  [January,  1776].    I  Bought  7  Bushels  of  Ches- 

nuts  &  give  4  pisterens  per  bushel. 

30  We  have  Sold  Nuts  and  Cyder  Every  Day  this 
Weak. 

31  I  Bought  4  Bushels  of  Apels   and   gave   12s.  pr 
Bushel  for  them. 

22  [February].     PETER  GAGE  Staid  Hear  Last  Night 
and  I  Bought  3  pare  of  Shoes  of  him  @  5/6  per 
pare.     I    Bought    a  pare  of  Stocking    And   give 
5/4  for  them. 

23  I  Sold  a  pare  of  Shoes  for  6/8. 

26  I  Sold  my  Cateridge  box  For  4/6  Lawfull  money. 

1  At  the  same  time  British  soldiers  earned  money  by  working 
for  the  inhabitants  of  Boston,  although  this  was  contrary  to 
orders.  (Diary  of  S.  Kemble,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Sixtieth 
Foot;  in  New  York  Historical  Society  Collections,  1883,  p. 
72.)  Private  work  is  still  carried  on  where  one  might  least 
expect  to  see  it,  by  sailors  on  British  men-of-war.  (F.  T. 
Bullen,  in  the  Spectator,  September  9,  1899.) 

[  157] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

At  the  time  he  carried  on  this  trading  he  was 
quartered  in  one  of  the  buildings  at  Harvard 
College,  and  did  his  share  of  fatigue,  made  car 
tridges,  ran  ball,  and  even  served  his  turn  as 
cook  for  the  company.1 

A  curious  agreement,  made  between  a  soldier 
and  a  land-owner  near  camp,  stipulated  that  the 
former  was  to  clear  a  certain  tract  of  land  fit  for 
mowing,  and  was  to  receive  $100  paper  currency, 
but  if  head-quarters  moved  before  he  had  finished 
the  work,  he  was  to  receive  payment  for  what  he 
had  done.3 

Among  the  many  duties  incident  to  army  life 
the  observance  of  Sunday  as  a  day  for  religious 
teaching  was  not  forgotten.  Washington  him 
self  impressed  upon  the  men  under  his  command 
the  value  of  Christian  character,  and  his  own 
example  must  have  aided  the  chaplains  in  their 
difficult  labors. 

Public  prayers  were  a  part  of  the  daily  or  Sun 
day  routine,  followed  by  the  reading  of  orders, 
and  usually  the  roll-call.3  Washington's  attitude 
toward  religion  in  the  army  was  unmistakably 

1  David  How's  Diary,  p.  4  et  seq. 

2  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  p.   1 1 . 

3  Rev.  William  Emerson,  in  Washington's  Writings  (Sparks), 
vol.  3,  p.  491. 

[    158  ] 


Camp  Duties 


set  forth  when  he  said :  "  To  the  distinguished 
character  of  a  Patriot,  it  should  be  our  highest 
glory  to  add  the  more  distinguished  character  of 
a  Christian." 1  And  Congress,  ready  to  promote 
the  same  ideals,  voted  September  11,  1777,  to 
import  twenty  thousand  Bibles ;  it  is  curious  to 
notice  that  all  the  members  from  New  England 
were  in  favor  of  the  measure,  and  all  those  from 
the  Southern  States,  except  Georgia,  were  record 
ed  as  against  it,  although  Lee  of  Virginia  and 
Laurens  of  South  Carolina  were  with  the  North. 

A  chaplain,  who,  it  is  said,  "  prayed  and  sang 
with  the  brigade,"  has  described  the  preparation 
made  for  services :  "  The  music  march  up  and 
the  drummers  lay  their  drums  in  a  very  neat  style 
in  two  rows,  one  above  the  other ;  it  always  takes 
five,  and  often  the  rows  are  very  long;  occasion 
ally  they  make  a  platform  for  me  to  stand  upon, 
and  raise  their  drums  a  number  of  tier."  2  The 
sermon  on  Sunday,  usually  at  eleven,  was  often 
of  a  practical  nature ;  it  referred  to  the  hardships 
and  the  duties  of  a  soldier;  it  urged  upon  him 
temperance  and  vigilance,  cleanliness  and  honesty. 
In  many  cases,  as  in  those  cited  herewith,  the  min 
ister  altered  the  text  to  suit  his  need.  Rev.  John 

1  Washington's  Revolutionary  Orders  (Whiting),   p.  75. 

2  Rev.  A.  R.  Robbins's  Journal,  p.  37. 

[  159  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Gano,  who  was  attached  to  Clinton's  division  of 
the  expedition  against  the  Six  Nations  in  1779, 
was  asked  to  preach  to  the  troops  at  Canajoharie, 
and  was  requested  "to  dwell  a  little  more  on 
politics "  than  he  usually  did.  He  preached 
from  the  words  of  Moses  : 

"  Come,  go  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good  ; 
for  he  that  seeketh  my  life,  seeketh  thy  life,  but  with  us 
thou  shalt  be  in  safeguard."  1 

Rev.  Mr.  Kirtland  preached  September  15, 
1776,  to  the  New  Jersey  troops  at  Fort  Schuyler 
from  the  text,  "  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against 
me ;  and  he  that  gathereth  not  with  me,  scatter- 
eth  abroad."  2  Upon  the  4th  of  July,  Mr.  Gano 
took  for  his  text  these  words  :  "  This  day  shall  be 
a  memorial  unto  you  throughout  your  genera 
tions."  3  But  these  suggestive  sermons  did  not 
always  attract  the  men,  and  even  when  they  were 
present  discipline  was  not  maintained  as  rigidly  as 
would  be  the  case  to-day.  To  increase  the  audi 
ence  a  penalty  was  once  imposed  for  absence  from 

*A  practical  adaptation  from  I  Samuel  xxii.  23. 

2  Lieutenant    E.    Elmer's    Journal;    New    Jersey    Historical 
Society   Proceedings,    vol.   3     (1849),    P-    25-       The  reading 
in  Matthew  xii.  30,  "with  me,"  was  changed  by  the  minister 
to  "  for  me,"  perhaps  to  strengthen  his  text. 

3  From  Exodus  xii.   14. 

[  160  ] 


Ill f  •' 


Hunting  shirt  (made  from  a  model  of  the  Revolutionary  period)  of 
home-spun  linen.  Vest  made  from  a  model  of  that  period  showing 
lacing  in  back  instead  of  a  buckle. 

(Originals  owned  by  James  E.  Kelly.) 


Camp  Duties 


worship  :  a  few  hours  spent  in  digging  out  stumps 
in  a  New  York  woodland  proved  effective.1  It 
should  be  said  in  defence  of  the  men  that  the 
preaching  was  not  always  worth  a  hearing.  Mr. 
Bliss,  said  a  fellow  clergyman,  preached  at  Cam 
bridge  August  20,  1775,  "from  those  words  in 
Deut.  23,  9-14,  and  had  he  have  digested  his  sub 
ject  might  have  done  well,  but  attempting  to  ex 
temporize,  it  was  as  it  was." 2  The  critic  himself, 
however,  rather  outdid  Mr.  Bliss  on  the  following 
Sunday,  when,  as  he  records,  he  preached  the  en 
tire  day;  but  perhaps  he  had  relays  of  listeners, 
and  not  one  weary  throng,  as  might  be  inferred 3 
Rev.  Mr.  Gano  was  a  serviceable  preacher. 
When  he  was  informed  that  many  of  the  soldiers 
before  whom  he  was  to  preach  on  a  certain  Sun 
day  were  six  and  nine  months  men,  whose  depart 
ure  from  the  army  would  be  unfortunate,  he  told 
his  listeners  that  "  he  could  aver  of  the  truth  that 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  approved  of  all  those  who 
had  engaged  in  His  service  for  the  whole  warfare." 
The  rank  and  file  were  much  amused,  and  those 

1  Rev.    John    Gano's    Biographical    Memoirs    (New    York, 
1806)  ;  also  Historical  Magazine,  vol.  5,  p.  332. 

2  Rev.    B.  Boardman's  Diary;  Massachusetts  Historical   So 
ciety  Proceedings,  May,  1892,  p.  403. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  404. 


The   Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

who  had  "engaged  for  the  whole  war"  forced 
many  short-term  men  by  their  jesting  to  re-enlist. 

But  the  laugh  was  not  always  on  the  ministers' 
side.  During  the  winter  at  Valley  Forge  many 
parsons  were  at  home,  as  the  men  were  too  poorly 
clad  to  stand  in  the  cold  and  listen  to  preaching. 
Mr.  Gano  was  away  on  leave ;  when  he  returned 
to  camp  he  asked  a  soldier  how  his  commander 
and  the  men  had  fared.  The  soldier  replied 
gravely  that  they  had  suffered  all  winter  without 
hearing  the  Word  of  God.  Mr.  Gano  explained 
that  it  was  their  comfort  he  had  had  in  mind. 

"  True,"  said  the  soldier,  "  but  it  would  have 
been  consoling  to  have  had  such  a  good  man  near 
us."  Deeply  touched,  Mr.  Gano  told  General 
van  Cortlandt  of  his  encounter.  Van  Cortlandt, 
a  little  later,  asked  to  have  the  soldier  pointed 
out  to  him,  and  was  surprised  to  see  the  worst 
reprobate  in  the  regiment.1 

1  P.  van  Cortlandt 's  Autobiography  ;  in  Magazine  of  Amer 
ican  History,  May,  1878,  p.  296. 


162 


VII 

Camp  Diversions 

RUMORS  of  victory  or  defeat  lent  a  pleas 
ant  excitement  to  the  lives  of  the  rank 
and  file.  A  story  of  the  patriot  campaign 
in  Canada  was  passed  on,  together  with  official 
dispatches,  from  one  post-rider  to  another  along 
the  almost  impassable  river-routes  of  Maine,  over 
the  stony  roads  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecti 
cut,  through  the  Tory  settlements  of  New  York, 
and  so  southward  to  the  Congress  at  Philadel 
phia;  the  dispatches  reached  their  destination 
unchanged  except  for  a  coating  of  grime  and 
wet,  but  the  verbal  story  grew  with  each  retell 
ing  until  the  last  post-rider  had  news  to  astonish 
those  about  the  camp-fires.  The  official  news  was 
printed  upon  handbills,  which  were  given  out  to 
the  men.1 

The  effect  of  good  tidings  is  shown  in  a  some 
what  famous  scene.  When  the  stores  from  the 
captured  ship  Nancy  arrived  in  the  camp  near 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  6,  p.  65. 

[  163  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

Boston,  there  were  demonstrations  of  joy.  The 
scene  as  pictured  by  Colonel  Moylan  is  some 
what  startling :  "  Old  Put  [General  Putnam] 
was  mounted  on  the  mortar,  with  a  bottle  of  rum 
in  his  hand,  standing  parson  to  christen,  while 
godfather  Mifflin  gave  it  the  name  of  Con- 
gress."1 

Bands  of  prisoners  of  war  and  captive  Tories, 
passing  through  the  camp,  awakened  patriotic  en 
thusiasm,  which  found  expression  in  shouts  from 
the  men ;  and  the  coming  of  well-known  or  cu 
rious  visitors — delegates  from  Congress,  sent  to 
inspect  the  army,  or  Indian  chiefs  and  their  fol 
lowers — helped  to  while  away  the  hours.  The 
impression  made  by  such  events  is  illustrated  in 
the  record  in  a  soldier's  diary  that  "  the  King  of 
the  Ingans  with  five  of  his  Nobles  to  attend  him 
come  to  Head  Quarters  to  Congrattulate  with  his 
exelency." 2 

For  many  years  June  4th,  the  King's  birthday, 
had  been  celebrated  in  America;  and  when  the 
day  was  allowed  to  pass  in  camp  with  no  festiv 
ity  and  no  mirth,  even  the  rebel  in  arms  could 
not  but  notice  this  sorry  end  of  a  time-honored 

1  Quoted  in  The  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers, 

i758-75>  P-  83- 

2  David  How's  Diary,  p.   12. 

[  164  ] 


Camp  Diversions 


custom.1  When  September  22d,  the  King's 
coronation  day,  was  referred  to  as  the  King's 
"  Damnation  day,"  war  had  indeed  come.2 

The  great  day  was  the  Fourth  of  July,  com 
monly  called  the  anniversary  "  of  our  Independ 
ency."  Few  diaries  fail  to  mention  with  some 
detail  the  usual  ceremonies  of  the  occasion.  The 
whole  army  was  drawn  up  under  arms  at  one 
o'clock,  with  detachments  of  artillery  interspersed 
and  thirteen  pieces  at  the  right.  The  celebration 
began  with  a  discharge  of  thirteen  shots  for  the 
States,  followed  by  a  running  fire  of  musketry 
and  cannon  from  right  to  left  through  the  front 
ranks,  and  then  from  left  to  right  through  the 
second  line,  repeated  three  times.  A  speech 
sometimes  followed,  and  then  three  cheers  from 
the  entire  army.3  Games  and  an  extra  allowance 
of  rum  closed  the  day.  On  the  British  prison- 
ships,  where  all  the  horrors  of  starvation,  suffo 
cation,  and  disease  were  rife,  the  day  brought  a 
speech  or  a  feeble  cheer.4 

1  Lieutenant  Isaac  Bangs's  Journal,  p.  39. 

2  Daniel  McCurtin's  Journal  ;  in  T.  Balch's  Papers  (1857), 
p.  17. 

3  Henry  Dearborn's  Journals,  p.  18  ;  Washington's  Writings 
(Ford),  vol.  7,  p.  482  ;  Feltman's  Journal,  p.  6  ;  T.  Blake's 
Journal,  p.  43. 

4  Martyrs  of  the  Revolution  in  British  Prison-ships,  p.  20. 

[  165  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Another  favorite  anniversary  was  that  of  the 
day  of  Burgoyne's  surrender,  which  was  celebrated 
by  the  firing  of  cannon,  the  throwing  of  sky 
rockets  into  the  air  ("skilokets  in  the  are  "),  and 
much  merrymaking.1  When  the  welcome  news 
was  received  that  France  had  declared  for  the 
United  States,  the  delighted  troops  cheered  for 
the  King  of  France,  the  "  Friendly  powers  "  of 
Europe,  and  the  thirteen  States ;  every  Continen 
tal  soldier  under  arrest  in  Washington's  army  was 
set  at  liberty  to  enjoy  the  day.2  On  more  than 
one  occasion  a  soldier  under  sentence  of  death 
profited  by  the  news  that  the  French  King  had 
shown  his  friendship  for  the  Colonies  or  that  a 
distant  battle  had  been  won. 

But  the  successes  of  the  British  bore  hard  upon 
the  men  in  the  patriot  army;  and  sometimes  even 
those  in  captivity  were  made  to  know  that  their 
captors  had  won  a  victory.  Major  Griffith  Will 
iams,  in  command  of  the  detachment  of  Royal 
Artillery  with  Burgoyne,  ordered  that  the  Amer 
ican  prisoners  be  drawn  up  in  the  rear  of  the 
British  lines,  to  hear  the  "  feu  de  joye  "  given  in 
honor  of  Burgoyne's  victories.  Some,  it  is  said, 

1  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  p.   10. 

*Ibid.,  p.  8;  also  T.  Blake's  Journal,  in  Kidder's  First 
New  Hampshire  Regiment,  p.  41. 

[  166  ] 


Camp    'Diversions 


were  stung  by  the  insult,  while  others  threw  up 
their  caps  with  the  British  and  were  roughly 
handled  by  their  more  loyal  comrades.1 

The  customary  holidays  were  not  forgotten ; 
Christmas  and  Thanksgiving  Day  brought  greater 
liberties  and  an  extra  allowance  of  liquor.2 
Even  St.  Patrick's  Day  produced  a  noticeable 
change  in  camp ; 3  the  Irishmen  who  had  been 
born  in  America  or  had  settled  in  the  country 
before  the  war  began  were  reenforced  in  some 
regiments  by  deserters  from  the  British  lines.4 
The  widow  Izard,  a  prominent  lady  in  the  South, 
honored  the  name  of  St.  Patrick  in  1782  by  a 
gift  of  a  gill  of  spirits  to  each  soldier  in  General 
Greene's  army.  A  little  later  the  same  army  cel 
ebrated  May  Day  with  May-poles  and  festivities, 
although  this  was  declared  to  be  "  something  ex 
traordinary,"  as  indeed  it  must  have  been.5 

Victories  and  anniversaries  brought  merriment 

1  Hadden's  Journal,   p.   102.      Hadden  did  not  approve  of 
Major  Williams's  treatment  of  American  prisoners. 
a  H.  Dearborn's  Journals,   1776—83,  p.  25. 

3  Ebenezer    Wild's    Diary  ;  in    Massachusetts    Historical  So 
ciety  Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.   133. 

4  Kemble's  Journal  (New  York  Historical  Society  Collections, 
1883)  mentions  Irish  deserters  from  both  armies. 

5  W.    McDowell's    Journal  ;  in   Pennsylvania    Archives,    2d 
series,  vol.   15,  pp.  314,  321. 

[  167  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

and  noise,  with  their  accompaniment  of  drinking 
and  cursing.  Congress  occasionally  showed  an 
interest  in  these  celebrations  and  sent  the  inevi 
table  present  of  rum ;  thirty  hogsheads  were  con 
sumed  by  the  gallant  survivors  of  the  battle  of 
the  Brandywine.1 

But  there  were  other  forms  of  amusement  in 
camp.  The  men  played  ball  or  cards,  and  now 
and  then  were  allowed  a  "  rifle  frolic  "-—a  contest 
in  marksmanship  in  which  the  vanquished  was 
bound  to  treat  his  more  skilful  adversary  to  liq 
uor.2  A  form  of  relaxation  not  so  clearly  under 
stood  is  mentioned  by  private  Samuel  Haws  as 
"  an  old  fudg  fairyouwell  my  friends."  3  During 
the  winter  of  1775-76,  which  was  bitterly  cold 
at  the  north,  men  enjoyed  skating  on  the  rivers 
and  ponds ; 4  and  in  summer  they  bathed  when 
ever  it  was  possible.5  They  sometimes  were 
able  to  get  away  into  the  country  to  fish,  hunt, 
and  to  gather  nuts,6  but  these  privileges  were 
more  often  granted  to  officers.7 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  September  \2y  1777. 

2  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  77. 

3  Ibid.y  p.  80.  4  Ibid.,  p.  90. 

5  Colonel  W.  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  72. 

6  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  77. 

7  A.    Lewis's   Orderly   Book    (Richmond,    1860),    p.    65; 
also  Feltman's  Journal. 

[  168] 


*f(2  fSrfSgfsl 


Company  receipt  for  pay  showing  the  ability  of  the  private  to   write. 

(Original  owned  by  the  Boston  Public  Library.) 


Camp   Diversions 


Nothing  so  depressed  the  spirits  of  the  sol 
diers  as  the  inactive  life  of  a  camp  far  removed 
from  the  enemy.  A  spice  of  danger  was  always 
welcome.  To  train  the  raw  recruits  to  be  fear 
less  under  fire  a  trifling  reward  was  offered  for 
bringing  to  head-quarters  each  cannon-ball  which 
was  thrown  from  the  enemy's  batteries.  It  was 
found,  however,  that  the  younger  men  failed  to 
gauge  properly  the  force  and  weight  of  a  ball 
that  ricochetted  slowly  along  the  uneven  ground ; 
several  soldiers  in  using  their  feet  to  bring  a  ball 
to  a  stop  were  knocked  down  or  crippled.  This 
plan  had  to  be  given  up.1  When  the  shells 
from  Boston  fell  into  the  camp  at  Roxbury, 
shrieking  like  "  a  flock  of  geese,"  they  did  more, 
said  an  observer,  "  to  exhilarate  the  spirits  of  our 
people  than  200  gallons  of  our  New  England 
rum."  Each  shell  as  soon  as  it  burst  was  sur 
rounded  by  a  throng  of  men,  eager  for  memen 
toes.2 

Funerals,  someone  has  said,  must  be  counted 
with  amusements  in  a  description  of  uneventful 
country  life.  The  chastisement  of  wrong-doers 
may  likewise  fall  into  line  with  the  diversions  of 

1  John  Trumbull's  Autobiography  (1841),  p.   19. 
2Jabez   Fitch's  Diary;  in    Massachusetts   Historical    Society 
Proceedings,  May,   1894,  p.  45. 

[  169  ] 


The   Private   Soldier    Under   Washington 

camp-life,  without  great  impropriety ;  for  the 
curious  modes  of  punishment  in  vogue  at  the 
time  afforded  some  relaxation,  if  they  did  not 
convey  the  obvious  lesson.  The  moral  to  be 
taken  to  heart  by  the  onlookers  was  weakened  by 
the  frequent  reprieve  of  the  culprit ;  and  this 
misfortune  was  only  too  well  understood  by  the 
officers.1  One  hundred  lashes — the  limit  of  cor 
poral  punishment  allowed — made  little  impres 
sion  upon  the  spirit  of  a  sullen  and  wilful  trans 
gressor.3  To  give  a  hundred  lashes  their  proper 
value  and  importance,  standing,  as  they  did,  for 
the  penalty  next  to  death  itself,  many  serious 

1  The  articles  of  war  were  approved  by  the  Continental  Con 
gress  June   30  and    November   7,  1775.      Article    LI.    reads: 
That  no  persons  shall  be  sentenced  by  a  court-martial    to   surfer 
death,  except  in  the  cases  expressly   mentioned   in  the  foregoing 
articles  ;   nor  shall  any  punishment  be  inflicted   at  the  discretion 
of  a  court-martial,  other    than  degrading,  cashiering,  drumming 
out  of  the  army,  whipping  not  exceeding  thirty-nine  lashes,  fine 
not  exceeding   two  months'  pay  of  the  offender,  imprisonment 
not  exceeding  one  month. 

The  articles  approved  for  the  army  September  20,  1776, 
directed  in  Section  XVIII.,  Article  3,  that  corporal  punishment 
should  not  exceed  100  lashes. 

2  One  hundred  lashes  could  be  made  very  effective,  as  in  the 
case  of  one  Burris,  who  received  fifty  lashes  a  day  for  two  suc 
cessive  days,  and  then  was  well  washed  with  salt  and  water. — 
Washington's  Revolutionary  Orders,  edited  by  Whiting,  March 
25,  1778. 

[    170   ] 


Camp   Diversions 


crimes  that  needed  severe  treatment  had  to  be  met 
with  inadequate  punishment.  The  result  as  it 
worked  out  in  practice  was  that  the  death  penalty 
was  too  often  imposed,  and  this  led  to  reprieves. 
Another  unfortunate  outcome  of  the  system  was 
the  invention  of  new  punishments,  more  or  less 
cruel  or  savage,  when  officers  became  exasperated 
by  desertions  and  mutiny.1 

A  corporal  and  two  privates  were  making  their 
escape  from  the  First  Pennsylvania  Regiment 
when  they  were  overtaken  and  captured.  After 
they  had  been  secured  a  dispute  arose ;  some  of 
the  captors  wished  to  kill  all  three  on  the  spot, 
without  trial  and  without  authority  ;  others  coun 
selled  delay.  It  was  agreed  finally  to  kill  one 
of  the  three  deserters  immediately ;  the  three 
luckless  fellows  drew  lots  and  fate  selected  the 
corporal,  whose  head  was  at  once  cut  off  and 
placed  upon  a  pole.  This  grewsome  object  was 
carried  into  camp  by  the  surviving  captives,  to 
be  placed  over  the  camp  gallows  as  a  warning 
to  all.2 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  9,  p.   128.      The  Brit 
ish  army  regulations  of  to-day  do  not  permit  more  than  twenty- 
five  strokes  at  a  time.      See  Wyndham's  Queen's  Service,  pp. 
243,  245. 

2  William  Irvine  to  Wayne,  July    10,    1779;    in   Philips's 
Historic  Letters. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

If  there  can  be  any  excuse  for  such  savagery  it 
is  to  be  found  in  the  jeopardy  of  a  great  cause 
by  desertions  from  an  already  inadequate  army. 
Washington  once  wrote  :  "  Our  army  is  shame 
fully  reduced  by  desertion,  and  except  the 
people  in  the  country  can  be  forced  to  give 
information  when  deserters  return  to  their  old 
neighborhoods,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  detach  one 
half  the  army  to  bring  back  the  other." 

In  the  country  about  New  York  many  of  the 
inhabitants  were  from  principle  or  interest  trim 
mers  in  those  uncertain  times.  Men  when  draft 
ed  were  slow  to  respond  to  the  call,  and  many, 
after  enduring  the  hardships  of  camp-life  for  a 
time,  returned  home  to  aid  a  sick  or  impoverished 
household.  They  had  perhaps  begged  in  vain 
for  an  honorable  discharge,  telling,  as  others  did 
throughout  the  Colonies,  of  little  ones  without 
food  or  firewood ; 2  and  when  they  appeared  in 
town  again  the  neighbors  beheld  the  deserters 
with  tolerance  or  with  half-kindly  eyes.  In  a 
letter  written  at  Rhinebeck,  September  16,  1776, 
John  White  said  :  "  I  suppose  there  are  not  less 
in  this  and  Northeast  Precinct  than  thirty  [de- 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  5,  p.  211. 

2  American  Historical  Review,  July,  1900,  p.  721. 

[  172  ] 


Receipt  signed  by  the  Ipswich  minute-men  who  marched  on  the  alarm 
of  April   iq,   1775. 

(Original  in  the  Emmet  collection  in  the  Lenox  Library,  New  York.) 


Camp  Diversions 


serters],  who  keep  in  the  woods,  and  are  sup 
ported  by  their  friends."1 

Ebenezer  Wild  in  his  Revolutionary  journal 
refers  frequently  to  punishments,  and  it  is  evi 
dent  that  they  interested  him  by  their  variety  and 
terrible  reality.  Upon  one  occasion  the  culprits 
marched  to  the  place  of  execution  to  the  strains 
of  the  "  Dead  March,"  each  one  with  his  coffin 
borne  before  him.  The  brigade  was  then  pa 
raded,  with  the  guilty  men  in  front  where  they 
could  be  seen;  after  this  their  death  sentences 
were  read  in  a  loud  voice.  Their  graves  were 
dug,  the  coffins  were  laid  beside  them,  and  each 
man  was  commanded  to  kneel  beside  his  future 
resting-place  in  mother  earth  while  the  execu 
tioners  received  their  orders  to  load,  take  aim 
and 

At  this  critical  moment  a  messenger  appeared 
with  a  reprieve  which  was  read  aloud.2  This 
last  all-important  act  in  the  series  was  omitted 
often  enough  to  strain  the  nerves  of  everyone 
present,  by  leaving  the  result  in  doubt  until  the 
last  instant. 


1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  2,  col.  352. 

2  E.    Wild's  Journal  ;    in    Massachusetts    Historical    Society 
Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.  119. 

[  173  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

The  whip  was  in  some  cases  serviceable, 
although  it  had  little  effect  upon  the  hardened 
offender,  tied  to  a  tree  or  post,  who  ground  his 
teeth  into  a  piece  of  lead  and  received  the  sting 
ing  blows  in  silence.  When  the  prescribed  num 
ber  of  stripes  was  administered  in  instalments,  the 
flesh  of  the  victim  had  time  to  become  inflamed 
or  to  heal  partially  before  the  full  penalty  had 
been  inflicted.1 

Corporal  punishment  was  carried  out  by  the 
drummers  and  fifers  under  the  eyes  of  the  drum- 
major,  who  was  required  to  be  present.2  Sev 
enty-eight  lashes  were  considered  proper  for  a 
deserter  and  thirty-nine  for  a  thief — a  survival  of 
the  Mosaic  number — but  there  was  no  invariable 
rule.3  For  writing  "  an  infamous  letter  "  against 
Colonel  Brewer  a  soldier  was  sentenced  to  stand 
in  the  pillory  for  an  hour  where  his  comrades 
might  witness  his  humiliation  and  suffering ;  in 
less  than  an  hour  he  fainted.4  Mr.  Wild,  our 
faithful  chronicler,  describes  another  scene — a 
soldier  marching  from  the  guard-house  to  the 

1  James  Thacher's  Military  Journal,  p.  223. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  222  ;  also  Heath's  General  Orders,  June  1 1,  1777. 

3  St.  Paul  said  :  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I  forty  stripes 
save  one — II.  Corinthians  xi.  24. 

4  Paul  Lunt's  Diary,  p.  13. 

[  174  ] 


Camp  Diversions 


gallows  with  a  halter  about  his  neck,  and  from 
there  running  the  gauntlet  naked  through  the  bri 
gade.1  Usually  the  brigade  was  drawn  up  in  two 
lines  to  form  a  narrow  lane  (sometimes  half  a  mile 
in  length),  through  which  the  culprit  had  to  pass 
to  receive  the  lashing  from  switches  held  by  the 
men.  If  he  was  unpopular  he  fared  ill ;  if  he 
was  liked  by  his  comrades  and  was  fleet  of  foot 
he  suffered  but  little.  To  make  the  gauntlet  a 
serious  penalty  a  soldier  was  ordered  to  point  his 
bayonet  at  the  guilty  man's  breast  and  back 
slowly  down  between  the  lines  so  that  progress 
could  not  be  too  rapid  for  adequate  punishment.2 
This  ingenious  device  served  to  lay  the  victim 
on  his  bed  for  days.3  At  Ticonderoga  a  band  of 
mutinous  sailors  ran  a  species  of  maritime  gaunt 
let  ;  they  were  sentenced  to  receive  seventy-eight 
lashes  each,  "  the  criminals  to  be  whip'd  from 
vessell  to  vessell  receiving  Part  of  their  Punish 
ment  on  Board  of  each."4  A  more  cruel  pun 
ishment  than  most  of  those  just  mentioned  was 

1  E.    Wild's  Journal  ;    in   Massachusetts    Historical   Society 
Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.   122. 

2  Rev.  William  Rogers 's  Journal,  p.  123  ;  James  Thacher's 
Military  Journal,  p.  223. 

3  E.    Hitchcock's  Diary  ;  in   Rhode  Island  Historical  Society 
Publications,  January,   1 900,  p.  211. 

4  Orderly  Book  of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p.  59. 

[  175  ] 


'The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

that  of  riding  the  wooden  horse,  which  so  injured 
the  man  that  some  officers  refused  to  make  use 
of  it.1 

But  there  were  penalties  that  afforded  real 
amusement,  as  in  the  case  of  Bowen,  sentenced  to 
wear  "  a  clogg  chained  at  his  legg  "  three  days,2 
or  in  that  of  Griffith,  guilty  of  selling  Major 
Carnes's  cordage,  "  to  wear  a  clog  four  days  with 
his  coat  turn'd  rong  side  outwards."  3 

1  Paul  Lunt's  Diary,  p.    10  ;   How's  Diary,  p.  32  ;  A.  M. 
Earle's  Curious  Punishments,  p.   128. 

2  Essex  Institute  Collections,  vol.   14,  p.  67. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  195. 


[    176  ] 


VIII 

Hospitals  and  Prison-Ships 

THE  Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  the  soldier 
were  the  hospitals  of  his  own  army  and 
the  prison-ships  of  the  enemy.  Perhaps 
the  knowledge  of  this  made  the  life  in  camp  and 
on  the  road  more  endurable  than  it  would  other 
wise  have  been.  To  see  the  dawn  over  a  hill 
top  drove  out  the  depression  that  comes  with  the 
night,  and  to  stand  in  the  full  radiance  of  the 
warm  sun  at  noonday  baffled  malaria  and  stayed 
the  march  of  disease.  But  the  sun  and  the  stars 
never  came  to  the  sufferer  upon  his  sick-bed, 
nor  often  to  the  half-crazed,  half-naked  creature 
in  his  marine  prison-pen. 

The  health  of  the  men  in  camp  was  not  for 
gotten,  although  the  means  of  checking  contagion 
and  alleviating  pain  were  inadequate,  and  many 
of  the  household  remedies  of  to-day  were  then 
still  to  be  discovered.  In  continued  bad  weather 
a  half  gill  of  rum  was  issued  to  each  of  the 
men,  and  they  were  cautioned  against  drinking 
[  177  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

new  cider  and  also  the  water  of  streams  forded 
during  the  heat  of  the  day.1  The  air  of  the  huts 
and  tents  was  purified  by  burning  the  powder  of 
a  blank  musket  cartridge  daily,  or  by  lighting 
pitch  or  tar;2  the  hospitals  were  treated  in  the 
same  manner. 

In  many  of  the  hospitals  where  there  were  few 
beds  or  blankets  and  no  medicine  or  nurses,  the 
service  was  not  much  more  than  the  presence  of  a 
doctor  until  death  came.  Colonel  Wayne,  writing 
to  General  Gates  in  December,  1 776,  said :  "  Our 
hospital,  or  rather  house  of  carnage,  beggars  all 
description,  and  shocks  humanity  to  visit.  The 
cause  is  obvious;  no  medicine  or  regimen  on  the 
ground  suitable  for  the  sick ;  no  beds  or  straw  to 
lay  on ;  no  covering  to  keep  them  warm,  other  than 
their  own  thin  wretched  clothing."3  At  this  time 
the  deaths  came  so  rapidly  that  the  living  grew 
weary  of  digging  graves  in  the  frozen  earth.  "  A 
scene  something  diverting,  though  of  a  tragic  nat 
ure,"  as  Lieutenant  Elmer  puts  it,  occurred  in  con 
sequence.  Two  graves  had  been  dug  with  much 
labor  by  men  of  the  New  Jersey  line  for  their 

1  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  75. 
2 Washington's    Orderly    Book,    May    26,    1778;    Orderly 
Book  of  the  Northern  Army  at  Ticonderoga,  p.   126 
3  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1031. 

[  178  ] 


f 


I  I 


Surgeon's  saw  used  by  Dr.  David  Jones,  who  had  been  a  student 
under  Dr.  Joseph  Warren.  Teeth  extractors  (owned  by  the 
Bostonian  Society).  Flask  (owned  by  Mrs.  R.  W.  Redman). 
Revolutionary  bullet  moulds. 


Hospitals  and  Prison- Ship. 


dead;  but  when  they,  having  gone  for  the  bodies, 
came  back  prepared  to  bury  their  comrades  they 
found  that  some  Pennsylvanians  had  come  upon 
the  open  graves,  and  finding  no  one  near,  depos 
ited  their  own  dead  there  and  covered  them  with 
earth.  A  hot  dispute  ensued  and  the  New  Jer 
sey  troops  succeeded  in  digging  up  the  other  bod 
ies,  which  were  thrown  under  a  heap  of  brush 
and  stones.1 

Good  doctors  and  faithful  ministers  were  rarely 
wanting  in  the  camps;  and  they  went  about 
where  men  lay  tossing  from  side  to  side  on  sacks 
of  straw  or  grass,  and  did  much  to  comfort  the 
sufferers. 

"  My  heart  is  grieved,"  wrote  Rev.  Ammi  R. 
Robbins,  "as  I  visit  the  poor  soldiers — such  dis 
tress  and  miserable  accommodations.  One  very 
sick  youth  from  Massachusetts  asked  me  to  save 
him  if  possible;  said  he  was  not  fit  to  die:  *I 
cannot  die;  do,  sir,  pray  for  me.  Will  you  not 
send  for  my  mother?  If  she  were  here  to  nurse 
me  I  could  get  well.  O  my  mother,  how  I  wish 
I  could  see  her;  she  was  opposed  to  my  enlist 
ing:  I  am  now  very  sorry.  Do  let  her  know 
I  am  sorry ! '  Mr.  Robbins  was  a  devoted 

1  E.  Elmer's  Journal ;  in  New  Jersey  Historical  Society  Pro 
ceedings,  vol.  3  (1849),  p.  93. 

[    179   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

chaplain,  who  had  to  nerve  himself  constantly  to 
bear  the  foul  air  that  injured  his  health  and  the 
tales  of  sorrow  that  burdened  his  heart.  He  be 
lieved  that  the  war  was  waged  in  a  just  cause, 
and  when  the  men  of  whole  congregations  went 
out  to  battle,  he  felt  that  ministers  should  be 
ready  to  nurse  their  sick  and  bury  their  dead.1 

At  Saratoga  an  officer  from  each  regiment  was 
appointed  weekly  to  visit  every  day  the  men 
from  his  own  corps  scattered  through  the  hos 
pitals.2  But  this  care  availed  little  when  medi 
cine  and  surgery  were  not  always  represented  in 
camp  by  able  physicians ; 3  and  antisepsis  and 
anaesthetics  were  unknown.  Cleanliness  in  con 
ducting  difficult  operations  was  not  insisted  upon 
as  it  is  to-day,  and  the  wounds  made  by  large 
round  bulle.ts  moulded  by  hand  needed  the  very 
best  of  treatment.4  Putrefaction  and  pain  ran 
riot  in  the  emaciated  bodies  of  the  soldiers,  and 
many  who  survived  never  regained  their  health. 

The  kind  of  medicine  recommended  by  a  doc- 

1  Robbins's  Journal,  p.  39. 

2  Orderly   Book    of   the    Northern    Army    at    Ticonderoga, 
p.   123. 

3  American    Archives  V.,    vol.    3,   col.     1584;    Massachu 
setts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  May,  1894,  p.  88. 

4  G.    L.    Goodale's    British    and    Colonial  Army    Surgeons, 
p.   10. 

[  180  ] 


Hospitals  and  Prison-  Ships 


tor's  wife  may  prove  of  interest.  From  a  sol 
dier's  description  of  his  sick  friend's  condition  she 
thought  the  trouble  might  be  "  gravels  in  the 
kitteney,"  as  the  diarist  wrote  the  name,  and  she 
ordered  a  "  quart  of  ginn  and  a  tea  dish  of  mus 
ter  seed,  and  a  hand  full  of  horseradish  roots  — 
steep  them  togather  and  take  a  glass  of  that  every 
morning."  The  gallant  fellow  submitted  to  this 
new  affliction,  and  happily  was  able  to  report 
that  "  he  found  benefit  by  it."  1  The  truth  is  that 
much  of  the  illness  came  from  a  longing  to  be  at 
home,  from  hunger,  and  from  cold.  Referring 
to  the  first  of  these  causes  of  army  sickness,  Gen 
eral  Schuyler  once  said  :  "  Of  all  the  specifics 
ever  invented  there  is  none  so  efficacious  as  a  dis 
charge,  for  as  soon  as  their  faces  turn  homeward 
nine  out  of  ten  are  cured."  2  For  the  other  tenth, 
just  referred  to,  the  remedy  used  at  Valley  Forge, 
mutton  and  grog,3  proved  to  be  as  useful  as  any- 

1  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  p.  5. 

2  Schuyler  to    Congress,   November    20,    1775;    Lossing's 
Schuyler  (1872),  vol.  I,  p.  466.      Dr.  Rush  held  to  the  view 
that  many  New  Englanders  deserted  on  account  of  homesick 
ness.      When  Gates  met  Burgoyne's  army  the  excitement  was  a 
strong  power  that  overweighed  fear  and  longing  for  home,   so 
that  desertions  for  a  few  weeks  almost  ceased.      (Massachusetts 
Magazine  for  1791,  p.  284.) 

8  Dr.   A.    Waldo's  Diary;    in  Historical    Magazine,   May, 
1861,  p.  133. 

[    181   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washingt 


on 


thing  to  aid  in  resisting  the  germs  of  disease  that 
everywhere  threatened  the  camp  with  pestilence. 
In  the  Quebec  expedition,  when  exposure  and 
hunger  had  prepared  the  way,  a  fourth  or  third  of 
the  men  in  some  regiments  died  of  small-pox.1 

From  the  records  of  the  general  hospital  at 
Sunbury,  Penn.,  for  1777-80,  it  appears  that 
about  four-tenths  of  the  patients  (not  counting 
the  convalescents)  were  the  wounded;  about 
three-tenths  suffered  from  diarrhoea  or  dysentery, 
and  one-tenth  from  rheumatism.2  To  state  this 
in  another  form,  lack  of  proper  food  and  shelter 
crippled  the  army  as  much  as  did  the  fire  of  the 
enemy.  The  number  of  cases  treated,  however, 
was  not  large  enough  to  give  very  accurate  sta 
tistics. 

The  sick  suffered  from  crowding  and  from  an 
insufficient  supply  of  medical  stores ;  those  on 
the  upper  floors  of  hospitals  had  little  or  no  ven 
tilation,  and  at  Bethlehem  four  or  five  invalids, 
one  by  one,  occupied  the  unchanged  straw  until 
death  came  like  an  angel  of  mercy.3  It  is  per- 

1  Charles  Gushing,  in   American   Archives   V.,  vol.    I,  cols. 
128-132.      See    also    letter    of   Council    of  Massachusetts  to 
Ward,  July  9,  1776,  ibid.,  col.   146. 

2  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  April,  July,  1899,  pp.  36,  210. 

3  Dr.  William  Smith;  in  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  July,  1896, 
pp.   149,  150. 

[    182    1 


Hospitals  and  Prison-Ships 


haps  not  very  strange  that  communities  did  not 
want  army  hospitals,  and  the  arrival  of  open 
wagons  in  which  lay  groaning  soldiers,  wet  with 
rain  and  snow,  was  the  signal  for  vigorous  pro 
tests  from  the  populace.  As  soon  as  the  patients 
were  able  to  walk  they  were  told  that  there  was 
too  little  food  to  make  a  longer  stay  desired, 
and  they  were  sent  out  penniless  and  weak  to 
walk  the  country  roads,  begging  from  house  to 
house.1  This  in  itself  was  an  objection  to  the 
presence  of  a  hospital  in  a  neighborhood. 

In  such  a  state  of  poverty  the  support  of  a 
minister  seemed  an  expense  that  could  be  avoid 
ed,  and  few  were  found  in  the  hospitals  at  New 
Windsor,  West  Point  barracks,  Morristown, 
Albany,  Philadelphia,  Fishkill,  Yellow  Springs, 
Williamsburg  and  Trenton,  where  many  were 
often  needed.2 

Sickness  and  inadequate  hospital  facilities  had 
a  very  direct  effect  upon  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
Every  haggard  soldier  who  returned  to  the  village 
of  his  birth  was  a  silent  force,  decreasing  enlist 
ments  and  increasing  the  amount  of  bounty  to  be 
wrung  from  the  taxpayers ;  this  was  particularly 

1  Director-General  Cochran  ;  in  Magazine  of  American  His 
tory,  September,  1884,  p.  249. 

p.  257. 

[    183   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 


true  at  the  South  in  the  winter  of 
The  commissariat  was  the  great  arbiter  of  events 
during  the  Revolution;  insufficient  food  caused 
disease  and  desertion,  crippling  the  army  until 
Washington  was  forced  to  keep  to  a  Fabian 
policy  that  irritated  those  who  were  unfamiliar 
with  the  obstacles  in  his  path. 

If  the  Continental  soldier  in  the  hospital  of  his 
countrymen  had  reason  for  discontent,  he  might 
well  believe  that  he  would  fare  even  less  happily 
in  the  hands  of  the  British,  who  rarely  were  able 
to  make  adequate  provision  for  their  prisoners. 
After  the  retreat  from  New  York  in  1776  the 
churches  of  the  town  were  crowded  with  starv 
ing  Americans  ;  some  with  dull  eyes  and  parched, 
speechless  lips  sat  upright  and  sucked  bits  of 
leather  or  wood  —  the  last  act  of  a  reason  almost 
extinct,  and  others  lay  upon  the  bodies  of  their 
comrades,  gnawing  bones  and  begging  their 
keepers  to  kill  them.3  While  the  helpless  creat 
ures  were  in  this  condition  the  sentries  were  said 
to  have  annoyed  them  needlessly.3  The  descrip- 

1  Washington  to  Congress;  in  his  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  5, 
p.  241. 

2E.  Allen's  Narrative,  p.  34. 

3  American  *  Archives  V.,  vol.  4,  col.  1234.  See  also  E. 
Fisher's  Journal,  p.  23. 


Hospitals  and  Prison-Ships 


tion  of  prison-life  in  Philadelphia  during  the 
British  occupation  is  too  ghastly  to  be  credible  in 
all  its  details.  Dr.  Albigence  Waldo,  of  Wash 
ington's  army,  who  has  been  quoted  frequently  in 
these  pages,  complained  that  the  enemy  did  not 
knock  their  prisoners  in  the  head,  or  burn  them 
with  torches,  or  flay  them  alive,  or  dismember 
them  as  savages  do,  but  they  starved  them  slowly 
in  a  large  and  prosperous  city.  One  of  these  un 
happy  men,  driven  to  the  last  extreme  of  hunger, 
is  said  to  have  gnawed  his  own  fingers  up  to  the 
first  joint  from  the  hand  before  he  expired ;  others 
ate  the  mortar  and  stone  which  they  chipped 
from  their  prison-walls,  while  some  were  found 
with  bits  of  wood  and  clay  in  their  mouths  which 
in  their  death-agonies  they  had  sucked  to  find 
nourishment.1 

One  must  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  nearly  all 
contemporary  authorities  were  influenced  by  the 
bitter  spirit  of  the  times  to  over-color  their  pict 
ures  of  the  suffering  which  came  with  war. 
There  were  frequent  complaints  of  cruel  treat 
ment  of  prisoners  from  the  commanders  of  both 
armies,  British  and  American,  and  each  side  hoped 
to  profit  by  the  publicity  given  to  harrowing  de- 

1  Dr.  A.  Waldo's  Diary;  in  Historical  Magazine,  May, 
1861,  p.  132. 

[  185  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

tails.  At  about  the  time  Americans  were  endur 
ing  privation  in  New  York,  in  the  autumn  of 
1776,  an  event  occurred  at  the  north  which 
proves  that  the  British  could  show  a  magnanim 
ity  that  might  become  dangerous  to  the  cause  of 
independence.  Arnold's  brave  attempt  to  check 
the  advance  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain  had  ended  in  a  furious  naval  fight  and 
Arnold's  retreat.  The  American  sailors  taken  by 
Carleton  were  treated  like  friends  by  the  com 
mander  and  his  men.  News  came  to  Gates  that 
they  had  been  sent  down  the  lake  in  boats  to  his 
camp,  and  Colonel  Trumbull  was  accordingly 
instructed  to  meet  them.  Trumbull  soon  found 
that  the  men  were  enthusiastic  over  their  recep 
tion  by  Carleton  and  loudly  praised  the  generosity 
of  the  British.  In  alarm  he  hastened  back  to  tell 
Gates  that  the  men  would  work  mischief  with 
their  tales  of  a  bountiful  enemy  if  allowed  to 
mingle  with  the  soldiers  of  the  army.  Trumbull's 
view  was  approved,  and  the  surviving  captives 
were  at  once  ordered  southward  to  Skenesboro  on 
the  way  to  their  homes.1 

The  prison-ships  were  perhaps  less  oppressive 
in  summer  than  the  city  places  of  confinement ; 

ijohn   Trumbull's  Autobiography  (New  York,  1841),  pp. 
34-36. 

r  1 86 1 


Hospitals  and  Prison-Ship^ 


but  at  best  they  were  unclean,  strictly  guarded, 
and  insufficiently  supplied  with  food  and  medi 
cine.1  Many  deaths  occurred  daily,  and  on  board 
the  Jersey  (popularly  known  as  Hell)  the  morn 
ing  salutation  of  the  officer  was :  "  Rebels,  turn 
out  your  dead !  " 2  The  horrors  of  those  days  have 
been  pictured  so  often  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  re- 
sketch  the  sickening  details.  The  living  and  the 
dead  lay  together  in  the  stifling  holds  of  the  ships 
until  the  time  came  to  bury  the  latter.  These 
were  put  beneath  the  sand  on  the  beach  near  by, 
and  in  the  next  severe  storm  they  were  washed 
back  into  the  sea  to  float  for  days  in  the  hot  sun 
near  the  port-holes  of  the  prison-ships.  In  warm 
weather  one  man  was  allowed  on  deck  each  night, 
and  the  prisoners  crowded  about  the  grating  at 
the  hatchway  to  get  a  breath  of  air  and  to  be 
ready  when  their  turn  came  to  go  out.  The 
sentinels  thrust  their  bayonets  through  the  grating 
in  sport,  and  sometimes,  it  is  said,  killed  one  of 
their  prisoners.3 

Lest  these  scenes  in  the  lives  of  the  captive 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1138. 

2  Pennsylvania  Packet,   September  4,  1781  ;  in    F.    Moore's 
Diary  of  the  American  Revolution,  vol.  2. 

3  Martyrs  of  the  Revolution  in  the  British  Prison-Ships  in  the 
Wallabout  Bay,  p.   19. 

[  187  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

soldiers  seem  too  incredible,  it  may  be  well  to  add 
the  experiences  of  a  man  of  letters  who  was  famous 
in  his  day  and  is  not  altogether  forgotten  in  our 
time — Philip  Freneau,  the  poet  of  the  Revolution. 
Freneau  spent  some  time  in  the  prison-ship 
Scorpion  which  lay  in  the  North  River  in  1780. 
The  conditions  there  were  so  terrible,  according 
to  the  poet,  that  any  plan  of  escape,  however 
likely  to  fail,  was  tried;  while  every  attempt  in 
creased  the  brutality  of  the  Hessian  jailers  who 
were  held  responsible  for  their  detention.  When 
a  number  of  men  had  rushed  upon  the  sentries, 
disarmed  them,  boarded  a  vessel  near  by  and 
escaped,  the  guards  in  their  chagrin  vented  their 
anger  upon  the  remaining  prisoners  by  firing  into 
the  hatchways. 

Freneau  soon  came  down  with  a  fever  and  was 
transferred  to  the  hospital-ship  Hunter.  Some 
convalescents  on  board  waited  one  day  the  com 
ing  of  the  doctor ;  when  he  had  gone  below  they 
slipped  into  his  boat  as  it  lay  alongside,  and  made 
a  successful  escape.  The  doctor  was  annoyed 
and  after  that,  regardless  of  the  sick  and  dying 
who  had  no  part  in  the  plan,  he  passed  by  the 
Hunter  at  a  distance  on  his  rounds.  An  appeal 
for  "blisters,"  too  loud  to  be  ignored,  one  day 
caused  him  to  rest  on  his  oars;  he  looked  up  at 

r  i  ss  i 


Hospitals  and  Prison- Ships 


the  eager  faces,  suggested  pleasantly  that  the  suf 
ferers  plaster  their  backs  with  tar,  and  rowed  on 
to  the  ill-famed  Jersey.1 

In  a  characteristic  letter,  written  in  1780,  from 
Passy,  Dr.  Franklin  told  Mr.  Hartley,  a  peace- 
loving  Englishman,  that  Congress  had  investi 
gated  these  barbarities  and  had  instructed  him  to 
prepare  a  school-book,  to  be  illustrated  by  thirty- 
five  good  engravings,  each  one  to  picture  a 
"horrid  fact"  that  would  impress  the  youthful 
posterity  in  America  with  the  enormity  of  British 
malice  and  wickedness.2 

While  patriot  soldiers  were  suffering  in  city 
prisons  and  on  the  water  many  captives  were  be 
ginning  years  of  confinement  in  Old  Mill  prison 
near  Plymouth,  England,  and  at  Forton  Gaol, 
outside  Portsmouth.  Usually  they  fared  reason 
ably  well,  although  forty  days  in  a  black  hole, 
with  half-rations  and  no  resting-place  but  the 
damp  stones,  seems  a  severe  penalty  for  attempt 
ing  to  escape,  or  for  commenting  unfavorably  on 
the  quality  of  the  meat.3  Isolated  cases  of  bar 
barity  were  condemned  in  London  newspapers, 

1  Philip  Freneau's  Capture  of  the  Ship  Aurora  (1899),  pp. 

3!-43- 

2  Franklin's  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  7,  p.  5. 

3  Charles  Herbert's  Journal,  edited  by  Livesey,  p.  84. 

[  189  ] 


The  Private   Soldier   Under   Washington 

and  the  frequent  visits  of  Mr.  Hartley,  M.P., 
and  Rev.  Thomas  Wren,  of  Portsmouth,  to  Amer 
ican  prisoners,  kept  punishment  within  proper 
bounds.  The  people  of  London  in  December, 
1777,  subscribed  ,£3,815  175.  6d.  to  provide  cloth 
ing  and  other  necessities.  A  weekly  allowance 
of  two  shillings  from  the  American  envoys  was 
invaluable  so  long  as  it  could  be  maintained,  but 
in  1778  this  was  unavoidably  reduced.  The  fare 
occasioned  comparatively  little  protest,  although 
Franklin,  in  his  letters,  complains  that  those  who 
were  not  sold  into  service  under  the  African  or 
East  India  Companies  were  cheated  by  public 
prison  contractors.1  In  1780  he  provided  six 
pence  per  wreek  for  each  of  the  four  hundred  or 
more  Americans,  and  as  his  countrymen  were 
not  permitted  an  equal  allowance  with  the  French 
and  Spanish  prisoners  (being  rebels),  the  money 
was  very  welcome.  In  the  following  year  Eng 
lish  generals  sent  home  great  numbers  of  cap 
tives  ;  and  Franklin's  efforts  to  effect  an  exchange 
were  thwarted  by  the  caprice  of  British  officials. 

1  Franklin's  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  9,  pp.  108,  109.  See 
also  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  i,  col.  754-756;  Timothy 
Connor's  Journal,  edited  by  W.  R.  Cutter,  in  New  England 
Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  July,  1876,  p.  345,  July, 
1878,  pp.  280,  284  ;  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1778,  p.  43. 
[  I90  ] 


Hospitals  and  Prison-Ship. 


Many  remained  captive  in  England  for  as  long  a 
period  as  four  years,  and  when  the  general  act  for 
an  exchange  was  passed,  in  the  winter  of  1782, 
there  were  more  than  a  thousand  Americans  held 
for  high  treason  in  England  and  Ireland.1 

The  prisoners  in  some  cases  were  allowed  to 
make  trinkets,  which  they  sold  to  visitors,  and 
they  occasionally  succeeded  in  sending  letters  to 
their  friends.  The  news  which  was  allowed  to 
filter  in  was  usually  bad  news,  such  as  the  final 
defeat  of  the  Continentals,  or  the  death  of  Wash 
ington. 

In  considering  the  British  treatment  of  Amer 
ican  prisoners  in  America  some  allowances  must 
be  made.  The  British  army  managed  to  cling  to 
the  sea-coast  of  the  continent,  but  could  not  pro 
vide  a  suitable  place  in  which  to  confine  able- 
bodied  captives  who  were  ready  at  any  time  to 
effect  an  escape  or  to  co-operate  with  an  attempt 
made  by  the  rebels  to  rescue  them.  The  length 
of  the  war,  also,  bore  hard  upon  the  British  sol 
diers,  three  thousand  miles  from  home,  and  in 
creased  an  irritation  which  perhaps  received  its 
first  impulse  from  the  regular's  natural  contempt 
for  the  volunteer  in  rebellion  against  the  King. 

1  Franklin's  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  7,  pp.  96,  306,  307, 
451. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

There  were  two  ways  of  relief  open  to  the  pris 
oner  in  British  hands,  one  at  the  sacrifice  of  his 
honor,  another  by  the  injury  of  his  own  cause  :  he 
could  enlist  under  the  crown,  stifle  his  conscience, 
and  take  his  chance  of  capture  as  a  deserter ;  or 
he  could — if  fortunate — be  exchanged  for  the  red 
coat  in  an  American  prison.  Few  of  the  better 
soldiers  of  native  birth  were  willing  thus  to  obtain 
freedom  by  service  under  the  King ;  and  the  ex 
change  of  privates  for  privates  operated  so  strongly 
to  the  advantage  of  the  British  forces  that  confer 
ence  after  conference  could  find  no  mutually  sat 
isfactory  basis  of  agreement,  and  the  prison-ships 
kept  their  burden.  These  prisoners,  who  had  all 
the  claims  of  humanity  upon  their  side,  were  for 
the  most  part  too  enfeebled  to  be  fit  for  further 
service,  and  some  were  levies  called  into  the  field 
for  short  periods.  When  exchanged,  therefore, 
the  sick  would  have  to  be  discharged  by  Wash 
ington,  and  many  of  the  able-bodied  men,  having 
reached  the  end  of  their  terms  of  enlistment,  would 
go  home.  The  British  captives,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  better  nourished,  and  less  subject  to 
disease ;  as  they  were  in  the  regular  army,  they 
would  remain  in  America,  or  be  sent  to  do  garri 
son  duty  in  the  place  of  troops  that  were  being 
[  192  ] 


Hospitals  and  Prison-Ships 


trained  for  service  in  the  Colonies.1  So  it  hap 
pened  in  this  way  that  when  Congress  was  hard 
pressed  to  keep  in  the  field  a  force  not  too  con 
spicuously  inferior  to  the  enemy,  an  exchange  of 
prisoners  was  clearly  a  misfortune  for  every  reason 
except  that  of  humanity.  As  an  exchange  was 
a  most  practical  means  of  "  giving  comfort  to  the 
enemy,"  the  privates  who  endured  year  after  year 
the  hardships  of  prison  and  prison-ship,  instead  of 
going  free,  were  serving  their  country  as  truly  as 
if  they  had  been  in  the  field. 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  8,  p.  340;  vol.  9, 
p.  445.  Officers  could  be  exchanged  readily,  and  Washing 
ton  at  one  time  showed  some  anxiety  to  send  back  General  Bur- 
goyne  lest  ill-health  should  carry  him  off  and  deprive  Congress 
of  an  opportunity  to  obtain  in  exchange  for  him  1,040  privates, 
or  their  equivalent  in  officers. — Ibid.,  vol.  9,  p.  219. 


193  1 


IX 

The  Army  in  Motion 

SPRIGHTLY  Sally  Wister,  arrayed  in  her 
prettiest  clothes,  watched  Washington's 
army  as  it  moved  down  the  Skippack  road 
from  Germantown  after  the  retiring  red-coats; 
she  enjoyed  the  "drumming,  fifing  and  rattling 
of  waggons,"  and  the  soldiers  no  doubt  found 
pleasure  in  looking  at  her.1  In  the  bright  sun  and 
bracing  air  they  made  a  gallant  array;  given  the 
best  of  health  and  favorable  roads  they  could 
march  well  for  a  number  of  miles,  but  much  of 
the  time  bad  roads  and  poor  shoes  retarded  their 
progress,  while  broken  sleep,  wet  clothing,  or 
insufficient  covering  at  night  sapped  the  vitality 
of  the  best  constitutions  and  made  laggards  of 
them  all.  In  rainy  weather  the  baggage  train, 
the  artillery  or  the  cattle,  if  they  by  any  chance 
went  before  the  men,  cut  the  road  to  pieces  and 
made  it  next  to  impossible  to  march  in  order. 

1  Sally   Wister' s  Journal;     in  Jenkins's  Historical  Collections 
Relating  to  Gwynedd,  p.  279. 

I    194  ] 


The  Army  In  Motion 


A  day's  march  in  the  Canada  expedition  was 
frequently  as  little  as  ten  miles,  while  in  Sullivan's 
campaign  against  the  Indians  the  day's  journey 
varied  from  less  than  ten  to  about  twenty  miles, 
although  it  at  times  rose  to  forty  miles  in  the 
twenty-four  hours.1  Major  Norris  in  his  diary  calls 
attention  to  the  "most  extrordinary  march"  of  his 
men  from  Tioga  to  Easton  in  Pennsylvania,  a  dis 
tance  of  1 56  miles,  in  eight  days — nineteen  miles 
a  day — over  a  mountainous  and  rough  wilderness, 
with  artillery  and  baggage.2  Better  progress  could 
be  made  by  infantry  when  unencumbered ;  the 
Maryland  companies  of  riflemen  marched  near 
ly  550  miles  from  Frederick  Town  (now  Fred 
erick  City)  to  Cambridge  in  twenty-two  days,  or 
almost  twenty-five  miles  a  day.3  General  Greene's 
army  in  the  Southern  expedition  covered  2,620 
miles  from  April  16,  1780,  to  April  19,  1781 
(Morristown  to  Camden),  or  about  seven  miles  a 
day,  including  battles  and  camping.4 

Men  were  often  ordered  at  the  Retreat  or  sunset 

1  Dr.  Jabez  Campfield's  Diary,  pp.   119,  121. 

2  James  Norris' s  Journal ;   in  Buffalo   Historical  Society  Publi 
cations,  vol.   i,  p.  249. 

3 Daniel  McCurtin's  Journal;  in  T.  Balch's  Papers  Relating 
to  the  Maryland  Line  (1857),  pp.  n,  12. 

4  William  Seymour's  Journal ;  in  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  De 
cember,  1883,  p.  380  (vol.  7). 

[  195  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

drum-beat  to  be  ready  to  march  at  sunrise.  At 
times  the  brigades  paraded  at  sunrise,  grounded 
arms,  breakfasted,  and  if  the  weather  was  favor 
able,  struck  tents  and  marched  by  eight  or  ten 
o'clock ;  but  occasionally  the  men  fell  into  line 
at  sunrise,  were  counted  off,  and  marched  from 
four  to  eight  miles  before  breakfast.  In  the  heat 
of  the  summer  "  the  General "  was  beat  frequently 
as  early  as  two  or  three  o'clock  to  warn  the  men 
that  they  were  to  march,  and  "  the  Troop "  an 
hour  later  for  them  to  fall  into  line.1 

It  was  necessary  to  halt  now  and  then  for  the 
artillery  and  stores  to  overtake  the  troops,  or  for 
the  men  to  rest,  wash  their  clothes,  and  clean  their 
arms.  When  the  long  line  was  again  in  motion, 
sometimes  in  single  file  as  happened  in  Sul 
livan's  expedition,  officers,  musicians,  rank  and 

1  E.  Wild's  Journal, passim.  Dictionaries  differ  in  their  defini 
tions  of  General and  Troop.  Colonel  Angell  in  his  Diary  (p.  106) 
says  :  "  The  Revelle  beat  as  usual  ;  the  Genl  at  5  oClock 
when  the  tents  were  struck ;  the  Assembly  at  Six  when  [the] 
troops  are  paraded ;  the  March  at  Seven  when  they  all  moved 
forward. "  Capt.  Barnard  Elliott's  Diary  (Charleston  Year  Book, 
1889,  p.  157)  records  the  order  "that  when  the  assembly 
beats,  to  strike  and  pack  up  all  the  tents,  load  all  the  baggage, 
call  in  the  quarter  and  the  rear  guards,  and  to  stand  to  their 
arms."  See  also  p.  236;  and  p.  245,  where  the  long  roll 
summoned  the  men  to  roll-call,  and  "the  troop"  meant  that  the 
new  guard  was  to  parade. 

[  196] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


file,  artillery,  pack-horses,  cattle  and  camp-follow 
ers,  the  spectacle  was  inspiring.  As  the  2,ooo 
pack-horses  in  this  expedition  alone  covered  six 
miles,1  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  the 
farmer  on  the  lonely  frontier  might  eat  his  break 
fast  as  the  first  strains  of  music  came  down  the 
road,  do  his  morning  work  and  sit  down  to  dinner 
as  the  artillery  came  in  sight,  labor  in  the  fields 
and  return  to  his  supper  as  the  rear-guard,  in 
search  of  stragglers,  passed  on. 

The  way  through  the  Indian  country  was  often 
picturesque  and  strange,  leading  over  high,  bar 
ren  mountains  from  which  the  wide  plains,  like 
another  world,  could  be  seen  below,  then  down 
into  wooded  ravines,  dark  and  damp  with  vapor.2 
The  men  noticed  the  different  trees,  the  pine, 
the  elm,  the  hemlock,  the  walnut,  and  turned 
over  the  soil  with  their  bayonets.3  There  was 
much  to  see  as  Sullivan  marched  through  the 
country  about  the  present  Bradford,  Penn.,  and 
Elmira,  N.  Y.,  great  stretches  of  "fine  English 
grass,"  spear-grass  or  clover,4  and  broad  fields  of 

1  Rev.  William  Rogers' s  Journal,  p.  77. 

2  Jeremiah  Fogg's  Journal,  p.  10. 

3  Dr.  Jabez  Campfield's  Diary,  p.   119. 

4  E.  Elmer's  Journal ;  in  New  Jersey  Historical  Society  Pro 
ceedings,  vol.  2  (1846),  p.  48. 

[  197  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

maize,  water-melons  and  pompions;1  burning  vil 
lages  and  smouldering  corn-fields  were  on  every 
hand. 

But  such  an  expedition,  necessary  though  it  may 
have  been,  gave  no  satisfaction  to  men  who  sought 
worthy  adversaries,  and  it  demoralized  those  of 
weaker  character.  "There  is,"  said  a  surgeon 
who  understood  the  suffering  that  followed  the 
success  of  their  army,  "  something  so  cruel  in  de 
stroying  the  habitations  of  any  people  (however 
mean  they  may  be,  being  their  all)  that  I  might 
say  the  prospect  hurts  my  feelings." 2 

The  soldiers  passed  the  mangled  bodies  of  two 
dogs,  hung  high  on  poles  to  appease  the  evil  spirit 
that  terrorized  the  red  man  and  denied  him  vic 
tory.3  The  Spirit  had  not  stopped  the  invaders, 
who  came  upon  the  Indian  camp-fires  and  villages 
so  rapidly  that  much  was  left  behind  in  the  haste 
of  flight.  Near  a  hut  they  found  a  child  of  three, 
weak  and  hungry  but  playing  with  a  chicken, 
while  a  milch  cow,  left  by  the  not  wholly  heart 
less  squaw,  grazed  quietly  within  sight,  ready  to 

1  Thomas  Grant's  Journal  ;  in  Historical   Magazine,  vol.  6, 
pp.  235,  236. 

2  Dr.  Jabez  Campfield's  Diary,  p.   121. 

3 James  Norris's  Journal;    in  Buffalo  Historical  Society  Pub 
lications,  vol.  i,  p.  246. 

[  198  ] 


'The  Army  in  Motion 


furnish  nourishment.1  A  feeble  old  woman,  left 
by  the  Indians  to  the  mercies  of  the  white  men, 
received  from  General  Clinton  a  keg  of  port  and 
some  biscuit,  although  no  officer  of  rank  less  than 
a  field  officer  had  tasted  such  luxuries  for  some 
days.2  With  this  act  of  kindness  must  stand  bar 
barities  that  would  be  incredible  if  noticed  by  a 
single  writer  only.  Lieutenant  Barton,  in  his 
Journal  under  the  date  August  30,  1779,  says: 
"  At  the  request  of  Major  Piatt,  [I]  sent  out  a 
small  party  to  look  for  some  of  the  dead  Indians- 
returned  without  finding  them.  Toward  morning 
they  found  them  and  skinned  two  of  them  from 
their  hips  down  for  boot-legs,  one  pair  for  the 
Major,  the  other  for  myself."  After  reading  of 
this  pleasant  enterprise,  which  reached  its  success 
ful  consummation  at  a  place  near  Cayuga  Creek,3 
it  is  not  impossible  to  understand  Thomas  An- 
burey's  observation  that  the  Americans  loved  to 
kill.4 

There  was,  however,  a  brighter  side  to  the  war. 
At  "  Seneca  Castle,"  in  a  fertile  country,  the  Ind- 

1  Jeremiah  Fogg's  Journal,  p.   15. 

2  William  Barton's  Journal  ;  in  New  Jersey  Historical  Society 
Proceedings,  vol.  ^  (1846),  p.  39. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  31. 

4  Anburey's  Travels,  vol.  I,  p.  331. 

[    199   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

ians  were  supposed  to  be  gathered  in  force.  As 
soon  as  the  troops  approached  the  woods  and 
fields  in  the  neighborhood,  detachments  were  sent 
to  the  right  and  left  and  posted  just  out  of  sight, 
so  that  at  a  signal  they  could  converge,  hem  in 
the  savages,  and  take  the  works  by  storm.  Hav 
ing  carefully  arranged  the  details  the  general  set 
out  to  inspect  the  lines  before  ordering  an  ad 
vance  ;  as  he  rode  he  beheld  each  soldier  with  as 
many  pompions  or  melons  as  his  bayonet  would 
hold,  and  each  military  shirt  bulging  with  beans 
and  corn.  In  his  wrath  he  exclaimed :  "  You 
damned  unmilitary  set  of  rascals  !  What,  are  you 
going  to  storm  a  town  with  pompions  *?  " 

Some  two  weeks  before  the  above  event  took 
place,  the  diarist  whose  account  has  been  followed 
afforded  amusement  in  a  different  way.  In  at 
tempting  to  catch  a  doe  which  had  ventured  into 
camp  he  was  knocked  down  and  trod  upon  by 
the  frightened  creature  in  making  her  escape.1 
Deer,  bears,  and  wild  turkeys  were  not  uncom 
mon  near  Tunkhannock,  Penn.,2  but  as  the  men 

Jeremiah  Fogg's  Journal,  pp.  6,  14. 

2  W.  Barton's  Journal;  in  New  Jersey  Historical  Society  Pro 
ceedings,  vol.  1  (1846),  p.  26.  Colonel  I.  Angell  in  his  Diary 
(p.  101)  relates  that  two  deer  went  by  his  quarters  in  camp  in 
New  Jersey,  December  12,  1779;  the  soldiers,  not  being  al 
lowed  to  fire,  gave  chase,  but  were  unsuccessful. 

[   200   ] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


were  not  allowed  to  fire  in  camp  nor  break  ranks 
when  marching,  animals  had  little  to  fear.  Pike, 
chub,  gar  and  suckers  were  caught  in  the  streams 
near  where  the  army  encamped.1 

The  southern  campaigns  brought  other  expe 
riences.  Pretty  young  women  gathered  at  the 
roadside,  says  observant  William  Feltman,  their 
faces  almost  entirely  hidden  by  linen  to  protect 
them  from  the  burning  sun ;  and  around  them,  as 
if  in  contrast,  a  retinue  of  blacks  without  a  stitch 
of  clothing  to  cover  them.a  A  sight  much  more 
unpleasant,  but  possibly  equally  characteristic  at 
the  time,  was  that  of  a  negro's  head  stuck  on  a 
sapling  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  his  right 
hand  tied  to  a  sapling  on  the  opposite  side.  The 
negro  had  been  hanged  and  cut  in  pieces  for  kill 
ing  a  white  man.8 

The  same  writer — an  officer,  but  probably  not 
more  quick  to  receive  impressions  in  a  new  coun 
try  than  some  of  the  rank  and  file — comments  on 
the  lack  of  pines  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia, 
the  infrequent  meadows,  and  the  flourishing  plan 
tations  of  the  Germans  and  the  Quakers.  His 

1  James  Norris's  Journal;  in  Buffalo  Historical  Society  Pub 
lications,  vol.  i,  p.  227. 

a  W.  Feltman's  Journal,  p.  5. 
p.  30. 

[   201    ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

eye  noticed  the  gray  owl,  the  redbird,  flocks  of 
green  paroquets  and  "  samalligators " ;  and  his 
ear  detected  sweet-singing  frogs.1 

If  these  wonders  of  nature  were  observed  by 
the  private  soldier,  he  was  less  inclined  to  record 
them  in  his  diary  after  the  weary  day's  march  and 
the  meagre  supper  which  followed;  a  tale  of 
hardship  and  adventure  was  more  suited  to  his 
laborious  pen.  James  Melvin,  a  private  in  Ar 
nold's  unsuccessful  expedition  against  Quebec  in 
1775,  has  described  the  ascent  of  the  Kenne- 
bec  into  the  heart  of  the  Maine  forests,  and 
the  journey  down  the  Chaudiere  to  the  waters 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Death  and  desertion  re 
duced  the  force  of  over  1,000  men  to  some  700, 
worn  out  by  marches  through  "  hideous  woods," 
over  mountains,  and  along  the  marshy  banks  of 
rivers,  where  the  men  sank  into  moss  and  mud, 
striving  to  haul  the  camp  baggage  through  ravines 
and  intervales.  On  October  28th  they  "  waded 
knee-deep  among  alders  &c.,  the  greatest  part  of 
the  way.  .  .  One  man  fainted  in  the  water 
with  fatigue  and  cold,  but  was  helped  along.  We 
had  to  wade  into  the  water,  and  chop  down  trees, 
fetch  the  wood  out  of  the  water  after  dark  to 
make  a  fire  to  dry  ourselves ;  however,  at  last  we 

1  W.  Feltman's  Journal,  p.  37. 
[    202    ] 


'The  Army  in  Motion 


got  a  fire,  and  after  eating  a  mouthful  of  pork, 
laid  ourselves  down  to  sleep  round  the  fire,  the 
water  surrounding  us  close  to  our  heads;  if  it  had 
rained  hard  it  would  have  overflown  the  place 
we  were  in."1  Another  member  of  the  expedi 
tion  has  described  the  events  of  the  next  day : 
"  We  had  to  wade  waist-high  through  swamps 
and  rivers,  breaking  ice  before  us.  Here  we 
wandered  round  all  day,  and  came  at  night  to 
the  same  place  which  we  left  in  the  morning, 
where  we  found  a  small  dry  spot  [and]  made 
a  fire;  and  we  were  obliged  to  stand  up  all 
night  in  order  to  dry  ourselves  and  keep  from 
freezing." 

Three  days  later  the  same  writer  observed: 
[We]  "travelled  all  day  very  briskly,  and  at 
night  encamped  in  a  miserable  situation.  Here 
we  killed  a  dog,  and  we  made  a  very  great  feast 
without  bread  or  salt,  we  having  been  four  days 
without  any  provisions;  and  we  slept  that  night 
a  little  better  satisfied.  Our  distress  was  so  great 
that  dollars  were  offered  for  bits  of  bread  as  big  as 
the  palm  of  one's  hand."  2  The  following  day, 
staggering  for  want  of  food,  they  came  upon  the 

1  James  Mel vin's  Journal,  p.  5. 

2  Journal  attributed  to  E.  Tolman  ;  in  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  April,  1886,  p.  269. 

[   203    ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

cattle  sent  back  by  Colonel  Arnold,  who  had  gone 
on  in  advance  of  the  party. 

The  camp-fire  was  the  soldier's  best  friend  on 
the  march  ;  by  it  he  dried  his  clothes,  and  cooked 
his  scanty  meal ;  it  protected  him  from  the  cold 
in  northern  countries,  and  even  from  prowling 
wild  beasts.  By  its  light  he  cleaned  his  gun,  or 
wrote  a  few  words  in  his  diary  for  the  family  to 
read  upon  his  return.  While  he  slept  it  gave 
light  to  those  who  bridged  the  stream  over  which 
the  army  would  pass  at  sunrise.1  But  if  the 
camp-fire  was  a  protection  when  the  air  at  night 
was  chilled  by  bleak  winds  and  wet  fog,  there 
was  no  remedy  for  a  tropical  sun  at  noon.  After 
the  battle  of  Monmouth  the  army  of  Washington 
lay  at  English-Town  for  two  days,  and  set  out 
on  July  1st  for  Spotwood;  the  weather  was 
so  warm  that  nearly  a  third  of  the  men  were 
unable  to  continue  upon  their  feet  until  evening, 
and  many  had  to  be  conveyed  in  wagons.2  In 
Virginia  in  1781  the  troops  were  ordered  to  cut 
their  coats  shorter  for  their  greater  ease  in  march 
ing  under  the  hot  sun.3  The  heat  was  somewhat 

Jeremiah  Fogg's  Journal,  p.  11. 

2  Thomas  Blake's  Journal  ;  in  Kidder's  First  New  Hampshire 
Regiment,  p.  43. 

8E.  Wild's  Journal,  May   2,  1781  ;  in   Massachusetts  His 
torical  Society  Proceedings,  October,   1890,  p.   137. 
[    204   ] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


easier  to  bear  than  the  cold;  in  the  winter  those 
who  had  for  shoes  strips  of  rawhide  (which  were 
passed  under  the  soles  and  bound  to  the  ankles)1 
left  marks  of  blood  on  the  snow  as  they  marched.2 
Even  those  who  had  good  shoes,  sometimes  kept 
them  on  for  so  long  a  time  that  the  leather  had  to 
be  cut  from  their  swollen  feet. 

The  companionship  of  many  men  tramping 
together  was  apt  to  keep  fear  from  their  minds; 
but  in  passing  through  dark  and  lonely  valleys  at 
night  the  dread  of  attack  added  to  the  gloom; 
they  sometimes  marched  in  single  file,  each  man 
with  his  cartridge-box  on  his  knapsack  to  keep  it 
dry  in  wading  deep  streams,  and  when  on  a  dark 
Indian  trail  each  man  with  his  hand  on  the  frock 
of  the  man  before  him  to  guide  his  steps.3  The 
rain  beating  ceaselessly  upon  the  leaves  overhead, 
and  dripping  into  the  pools  below ;  the  wind 
sighing  and  the  wet  branches  creaking  in  the 
wind;  then  a  flash  of  lightning  that  revealed  a 
line  of  weary,  muddy,  plodding  men — shut  out 
of  sight  in  another  instant  by  the  black  of  night 
and  lost  in  the  rumble  and  roar  of  thunder ;  that 

1  The  Female  Review  (Dedham,  1797),  p.   158. 

2  Heath's  Memoirs  (1798),  p.  96. 

3  Nathan  Davis' s  History;     in  Historical   Magazine,   April, 
1868,  p.  202. 

[   2°5    ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

was  what  a  writer  had  seen  when  he  wrote  that 
"  fighting  happens  seldom,  but  fatigue,  hunger, 
cold  &  heat  are  constantly  varying  [the  soldier's] 
distress." :  At  such  a  time  panic  was  ready  to 
break  forth  at  any  moment.  On  one  occasion  in 
Virginia,  in  May,  1781,  the  lightning  struck  near 
a  moving  column  of  troops  and  stampeded  the 
horses.  The  militia  thought  the  enemy  were 
upon  them,  threw  down  their  arms  in  the  muddy 
road  where  they  were,  and  rushed  headlong  into 
the  woods.2  The  rear-guard,  which  was  accus 
tomed  to  follow  the  army  to  stop  stragglers  and 
deserters,  sometimes  performed  a  like  duty  over 
the  cattle;  and  to  march  in  the  dark  behind  a 
thousand  animals,  along  a  narrow,  muddy  road, 
already  cut  to  pieces  by  heavy  artillery,  was  a  test 
of  patriotism. 

A  passage  in  the  Journal  of  Elijah  Fisher  de 
scribes  simply  and  well  the  hardships  which  the 
defensive  policy  of  Washington,  with  its  quick 
marches  and  counter-marches,  brought  upon  the 
private  soldier: 

"  About  Dark  it  did  begun  to  storm,  the  wind 
being  at  the  N.E.,  and  the  Artillery  went  before 

1  Dr.  Jabez  Campfield's  Diary,  p.   119. 
2E.  Wild's  Journal,  May  29,  1781  ;  in  Massachusetts  His 
torical  Society  Proceedings,  October,  1890,  p.   139. 
[   206   ] 


The  Army  in   Motion 


and  Cut  up  the  roads;  and  the  snow  Come  about 
our  shows  [shoes]  and  then  set  in  to  rain,  and 
with  all  which  made  it  very  teges  [tedious].  .  . 
At  twelve  at  night  we  Come  into  a  wood  and 
had  order  to  bild  ourselves  shelters  to  brake 
of  [off]  the  storm  and  make  ourselves  as  Com- 
forteble  as  we  could,  but  jest  as  we  got  a  shelter 
bilt,  and  got  a  good  fire  and  Dried  some  of  our 
Cloths,  and  begun  to  have  things  a  little  Com- 
furteble,  though  but  poor  at  the  best,  thare  Come 
orders  to  march  and  leave  all  we  had  taken  so 
much  pains  for."  l 

There  were  brighter  days  and  pleasant  marches, 
not  to  be  left  altogether  from  the  soldier's  calen 
dar.  A  pretty  story  has  been  preserved  by  an 
aged  pensioner  who  was  once  in  the  Command 
er-in-chief's  life-guard;  it  will  serve  to  brighten 
the  picture  of  the  army  in  motion.  The  men 
were  marching  slowly  along  one  day  with  Wash 
ington  at  their  head.  Where  the  road  skirted  a 

1  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  p.  7.  Thomas  Blake's  Journal 
(Kidder's  First  New  Hampshire  Regiment  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  p.  37)  pictures  the  greater  suffering  in  time  of  re 
treat  when  he  refers  thus  to  Burgoyne's  movements  after  the 
second  battle  of  Stillwater  :  "  They  burnt  most  of  the  build 
ings  as  they  went,  and  cut  away  the  bridges  ;  and  whenever 
their  wagons  or  tents  or  baggage  broke  down,  they  knocked  the 
horses  on  the  head  and  burnt  the  baggage." 
[  207  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

pond  a  number  of  boys  were  engaged  in  throwing 
or  "jerking "  stones  to  make  them  skim  across 
the  face  of  the  water. 

"  Halt !  "  came  the  command.  Then  Wash 
ington  said :  "  Now,  boys,  /  will  show  you  how 
to  jerk  a  stone."  He  performed  the  feat  success 
fully,  smiled  quietly,  and  ordered  his  men  to 
march  forward.  That  is  the  story,  to  be  credited 
or  not  as  one  wills.1 

When  the  soldiers  endured  every  species  of 
privation  in  camp  and  on  the  march,  it  is  not 
strange  that  they  treated  the  property  of  people 
near  them  somewhat  cavalierly.  As  the  Conti 
nentals  came  in  sight,  patriotic  farmers  drove  their 
cattle  into  the  hills  and  put  their  hens  out  of 
reach.  To  have  their  fellow-countrymen  quar 
tered  upon  them  was  distressing  from  the  desola 
tion  that  marked  their  sojourn.2  Permission  to 
take  property  was  seldom  granted  to  private  sol 
diers,  and  Washington  made  every  effort  to  ap 
pease  the  country-side.  In  an  order  against  plun 
dering,  issued  November  3,  1776,  an  exception 
was  made  in  favor  of  straw,  and,  in  time  of  great 

1  Alexander  Milliner,  in  Hillard's  Last  Men  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  p.  42. 

2  W.  Thompson's  Deposition  ;  in  Publications  of  the  Brookline 
Historical  Publication  Society,  No.   12. 

[  208  ] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


dampness,  of  grain  in  the  sheaf,  to  keep  the  men 
from  the  ground  at  night.1  The  custom  of  allow 
ing  scouting  parties  in  time  of  great  fatigue  to 
take  what  they  needed  by  plunder  was  greatly 
abused. 

The  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne  relates  that  in 
the  winter  of  1779-80  the  soldiers  grew  des 
perate  under  half-rations  and  took  to  marauding 
and  pillage.  This  was  stopped  by  Washington, 
but  as  famine  set  in,  he  ordered  foraging  e^pe- 
ditions — house-to-house  visitations — for  clothing, 
blankets,  shoes,  and  every  kind  of  food  that  could 
be  spared  by  non-combatants.  Under  these  trials 
of  war  the  soldiery  and  the  inhabitants  seemed  to 
the  French  writer  very  submissive.2  Needless 
cruelty  the  general  abhorred,3  and  he  strove  con 
stantly  to  suppress  the  baser  element,  which  was 
as  terrible  a  scourge  as  the  enemy.4 

Petty  plunder  was  looked  upon  by  the  soldiers 
as  "  ragging  "  is  to-day  by  college  boys,  a  form  of 
stealing  that  should  be  known  by  a  more  gentle 
name.  A  soldier,  for  example,  threw  a  stone  at 
some  geese  in  a  pond,  killed  one,  and  stowed  it 

1  Washington's  Orderly  Book,  November  3,  1776. 
2J.  Durand's  New  Materials,  p.  217. 

3  Washington's  Orderly  Book,  July  7,  1776. 

4  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  4,  p.  425. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

away  carefully  in  the  roomy  confines  of  his  drum. 
When  the  irate  farmer  overtook  the  company  the 
drum-head  had  been  replaced  and  his  search  for 
the  goose  was  unsuccessful.  On  another  occasion 
the  branches  of  a  Quaker's  orchard  furnished  some 
thirty  or  forty  fowls,  which  were  sent  on  ahead 
before  daybreak,  and  later  in  the  morning  were 
cooked  with  onions,  potatoes,  and  carrots.1  When 
cattle  grazed  on  the  hill-side  above  the  camp,  and 
the  ^kettle  was  empty,  "  a  condition  and  not  a 
theory"  confronted  the  cook;  in  such  a  case 
a  colonel  was  known  not  to  disdain  a  quarter 
of  beef  left  quietly  at  night  beneath  the  flap  of 
his  tent.  Or  if  a  soldier  (when  meat  was  scarce) 
wished  to  visit  a  friend  whom  he  had  not  seen 
for  many  years,  and  he  was  excused  from  roll-call 
by  the  captain,  he  might  by  chance  find  his 
"friend"  in  the  act  of  cutting  up  a  steer;  it 
would  be  such  a  pleasure  to  return  with  meat  for 
the  company.2 

Days  of  privation  justified  theft  in  the  eyes  of 
many  of  the  rank  and  file.  Upon  one  occasion, 
in  1779,  the  troops  marched  by  the  body  of  a 
soldier,  hung  for  inexcusable  treatment  of  the 

1  E.  Fox's  Revolutionary  Adventures  (1838),  pp.  49,  51. 

2  John  Shreve's  Personal  Narrative;   in  Magazine  of  American 
History,  September,  1879,  p.  575. 

[    210    ] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


people.  A  comrade  slapped  the  dead  man  on  the 
thigh  and  said :  "  Well,  Jack,  you  are  the  best 
off  of  any  of  us — it  won't  come  to  your  turn  to  be 
hanged  again  this  ten  years."1 

In  the  north  sympathizers  with  the  King  suf 
fered  less  at  the  hands  of  passing  soldiers  than  in 
the  south ;  and  yet  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a 
plain-spoken  Tory — a  "ministerial  tool"-— to  get 
a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers,  especially  during  the 
months  when  companies  from  the  central  colonies 
were  on  their  way  to  join  the  army  about  Boston.2 
The  British  regulars  in  Boston  as  early  as 
March,  1775,  had  inflicted  like  punishment  on  a 
country  fellow  who  (as  was  said)  had  been  making 
preparation  for  rebellion  by  buying  a  gun  from  a 
red-coat.3 

Tories  were  not  always  subjected  to  tar  and 
feathers;  in  May,  1776,  at  a  drinking  "frolic," 
as  it  was  called,  a  Tory  forgot  his  caution 
and  drank  to  the  King's  success;  he  was  imme 
diately  dragged  off  to  the  guard,  who  knocked 

1  E.  Hitchcock's  Diary  ;  in  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society 
Publications,  January,  1900,  p.  223. 

2  Aaron  Wright's   Revolutionary  Journal  ;   in  Historical  Mag 
azine,  July,  1862,  p.  209  ;    also  William   Hendrick's  Journal  ; 
in  Pennsylvania  Archives,  2d  series,  vol.   15,  p.  28. 

3 John  Rowe's  Diary;  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
Proceedings,  March,  1895,  p.  90. 

[    2"    ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  end  out  of  a  hogshead  and  forced  him  to 
"dance  Yankee  Dudle  in  it  untill  next  day."1 

In  the  south  there  was  no  neutral  ground  pos 
sible  for  the  country  people.  When  the  King's 
troops  were  in  possession  of  the  land,  the  Tories 
drove  the  rebel  sympathizers  into  the  mountains, 
killing  husbands  on  their  doorsteps  and  shooting 
children  before  their  helpless  mothers.  When 
Lincoln  or  Gates  or  Greene  came  down  from  the 
north  the  tide  of  blood  swept  back  upon  the 
Tories. 

Many  families  in  Georgia  and  elsewhere  on 
this  account  lived  in  the  mountains  and  sub 
sisted  by  hunting.2  Efforts  were  made,  however, 
to  protect  the  royalists,  and  General  Greene  in 
his  orders  prohibited  the  soldiery  from  insulting 
any  of  the  inhabitants  "  with  the  odious  epithets 
of '  Tory '  or  any  other  indecent  language,  it  being 
ungenerous,  unmanly  and  unsoldierlike."3  In 
truth,  the  poor  Tories  found  little  comfort  from 
either  army;  a  New  York  fugitive  declared  that 
the  British  spoke  of  the  enemy  as  rebels,  but  the 
Tories  they  called  "  damned  traitors  and  scoun- 

*D.  McCurtin's  Journal;  in  T.  Balch's  Papers  (1857), 
p.  40. 

2  Luzerne,  in  J.  Durand's  New  Materials,  p.  252. 

3  Colonel  Hutchinson's  Orderly  Book,  p.  7. 

[    212    ] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


drels."  In  many  towns  they  were  forced  to  drill 
with  their  neighbors,  and  when  drafted,  were  ex 
pected  to  pay  well  for  substitutes ; l  in  Massachu 
setts  the  selectmen  or  overseers  of  the  poor  were 
empowered  to  bind  out  their  children  with  those 
of  the  town  paupers.2 

'The  Tory  while  an  exile  in  England  suffered  in 
spirit  if  he  escaped  physical  pain;  he  heard  his 
native  land  referred  to  in  pompous  terms  as  our 
plantations,  and,  as  Franklin  so  delightfully  drew 
the  picture,  he  saw  every  Englishman  "jostle  him 
self  into  the  throne  with  the  King  "  that  he  might 
talk  of  our  subjects  in  the  colonies?  His  friends  in 
the  rebel  army  were  said  to  possess  "  every  bad 
quality  the  depraved  heart  can  be  cursed  with." 
Before  he  could  analyze  his  thoughts  he  found 
himself  rejoicing  that  news  of  a  rebel  victory  di 
minished  the  conceit  of  the  insufferable  "  Island 
ers  "  about  him  ;  and  it  may  be  said  that  the  Tory 
in  a  foreign  land  never  entirely  forgot  that  his 
friends  and  his  kinsmen  were  fighting  for  the  soil 
that  he  loved.  Curwen  has  shown  us  these  feel 
ings  in  the  story  of  his  own  exile,4  and  Governor 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  I,  col.  356. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  col.  286. 

5  Franklin's  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  4,  p.  3. 
4  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1269. 

[  213  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

Hutchinson  wished  to  return  to  lie  at  last  in  the 
soil  of  his  native  land.1 

The  practice  of  plundering  Tories  was  not  so 
much  to  be  regretted  as  that  of  robbing  the  friends 
of  Congress  under  the  specious  pretence  that  they 
were  secretly  loyal  to  the  crown.  This  habit  an 
noyed  Washington  frequently,  and  he  complained 
in  January,  1777,  to  the  governor  of  New  Jersey, 
that  the  militia  officers  had  been  known  to  lead 
their  men  in  these  infamous  expeditions.2  But 
robbery  was  a  misfortune  less  serious  than  the 
treatment  received  by  real  Tories.  The  Council 
of  Bennington  in  January,  1778,  gave  out  the 
following  order : 

"  Let  the  overseer  of  the  tories  detach  ten  of  them, 
with  proper  officers  to  take  the  charge,  and  march  them 
in  two  distinct  files  from  this  place  through  the  Green 
Mountains,  for  breaking  a  path  through  the  snow.  Let 
each  man  be  provided  with  three  days'  provisions;  let 
them  march  and  tread  the  snow  in  said  road  of  suitable 
width  for  a  sleigh  and  span  of  horses ;  order  them  to 
return,  marching  in  the  same  manner,  with  all  conven 
ient  speed.  Let  them  march  at  6  o'clock  tomorrow 
morning."  3 

1  T.  Hutchinson's  Diary  and  Letters  (London,  1886),  vol.  2, 
PP-  257>  335- 

2  Washington's  Writings   (Ford),  vol.    5,  p.  201  ;  also  his 
Revolutionary  Orders  (Whiting),  p.  70. 

3  Note  in  Hadden's  Journal,  p.   I  28. 

[  214  ] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


After  the  battle  of  Bennington  the  Tories  were 
the  sport  of  the  soldiery ;  they  were  tied  together 
in  pairs,  and  attached  by  the  traces  to  horses 
which  were  in  some  cases  driven  by  negroes.1 
The  same  spirit  is  evident  in  the  remark  of  a 
soldier,  made  after  the  battle :  "  One  Tory,  with 
his  left  eye  shot  out,  was  led  by  me,  mounted  on 
a  horse  who  had  also  lost  his  left  eye.  It  seems  to 
me  cruel  now — it  did  not  then."2  If  the  thought 
and  action  of  the  time  appear  unworthy  of  men 
fighting  for  liberty,  it  is  well  to  stand  for  a  mo 
ment  as  they  did,  with  the  contemptuous  red-coat 
and  his  prison-ship  toward  the  rising  sun,  and 
the  treacherous  redskin  with  his  scalping-knife 
toward  the  western  sun :  that  was  no  time  for 
over-refinement. 

The  British  army,  while  marching  through  an 
enemy's  country,  found  the  Indian  allies  un 
manageable  ;  they  demanded  permission  to  pil 
lage  and  torture  as  their  reward  for  service.  Per 
haps  with  this  in  mind  General  Fraser  told  his 
prisoners  that  if  they  attempted  to  escape  they 
would  receive  no  quarter,  but  would  be  at  the 
mercy  of  Indians,  to  be  hunted  down  and  scalped. 
Probably  Fraser  hardly  expected  to  be  forced  to 

1  Memoir  of  General  John  Stark,  by  C.  Stark,  p.  63. 
2J.  D.  Butler's  Bennington  address,  p.  29. 

[  215  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

allow  so  barbarous  a  punishment,  but  Burgoyne 
himself  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  holding 
the  savage  allies  to  humane  methods  of  warfare 
and  regard  for  prisoners.  Thacher  has  described 
the  art  of  scalping.  "  With  a  knife,"  he  writes, 
"they  make  a  circular  cut  from  the  forehead, 
quite  round,  just  above  the  ears ;  then  taking 
hold  of  the  skin  with  their  teeth,  they  tear  off  the 
whole  hairy  scalp  in  an  instant,  with  wonderful 
dexterity." a  This  operation,  very  serious  and 
painful,  was  not  necessarily  fatal,  and  a  number 
of  soldiers  survived  the  seal  ping-knife  as  they 
did  battles  and  lived  into  the  next  century. 
After  the  fight  at  Freeman's  Farm  the  Indians 
are  said  to  have  spent  the  next  morning  in  scalp 
ing  the  dead  and  wounded ;  a  German  officer 
makes  the  statement,  and  when  taken  with  other 
evidence  it  does  not  seem  improbable.  Scalps 
were  worth  about  eight  dollars  each,  the  price 
varying  somewhat,  according  to  agreement.2 
General  Carleton  has  been  accused  of  paying  for 
scalps,  and  American  prisoners  of  more  or  less 
veracity,  as  well  as  Indians,  testified  to  this  as  a 
fact.3  While  it  can  scarcely  be  credited  as  con- 

1  James  Thacher's  Military  Journal,  p.   137. 

2J.  Priest's  Stories  of  the  Revolution,  p.  19. 

3J.  Melvin's  Journal,  p.  23  ;  also   American  Archives  V., 

VOl.    2,  COl.    268. 

[216] 


The  Army  in  Motion 


sistent  with  Carleton's  known  character  or  as 
probable  treatment  of  white  people  by  their  own 
race,  one  should  not  forget  that  the  colonists 
had  for  a  century  and  more  set  a  dangerous 
example. 

A  bounty  on  scalps  of  hostile  Indians  was  the 
prize  toward  which  a  frontier  "  centinel "  looked 
to  augment  his  income.  As  an  instance  among 
many  the  vote  of  the  New  Hampshire  House  of 
Representatives  May  7,  1746,  may  be  given. 
The  tariff  was  fixed  at  seventy  pounds  for  the 
scalp  of  each  male  Indian  over  twelve  who  was 
at  war  with  the  province,  and  of  thirty-seven 
pounds  and  ten  shillings  for  scalps  of  women 
and  of  children  under  twelve  years  of  age}  Had 
the  Indians  joined  the  American  army  they  would 
have  scalped  the  British  regulars  who  took  their 
chances  of  death  in  any  form ;  but  they  threw 
in  their  lot  with  the  royal  cause,  and  so  fell 
upon  old  men,  helpless  women  and  children 
more  often  than  they  did  upon  the  Continentals. 
These  were  the  unfortunate  conditions  of  the 
struggle. 

There  is  little  to  relieve  these  pictures  of  bar 
barity,  and  yet  the  following  sprightly  narrative 

1  New  Hampshire  Provincial  Papers,  vol.  5,  p.  410. 

[  217  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

by  Ethan  Allen  is  not  without  its  humorous  as 
pect.  He  says : 

"  The  officer  I  capitulated  with,  then  directed  me  and 
my  party  to  advance  towards  him,  which  was  done ;  I 
handed  him  my  sword,  and  in  half  a  minute  after,  a 
savage,  part  of  whose  head  was  shaved,  being  almost 
naked  and  painted,  with  feathers  intermixed  with  the  hair 
of  the  other  side  of  his  head,  came  running  to  me  with 
an  incredible  swiftness  ;  malice,  death,  mur 

der,  and  the  wrath  of  devils  and  damned  spirits  are  the 
emblems  of  his  countenance ;  and  in  less  than  twelve 
feet  of  me  presented  his  firelock;  at  the  instant  of  his 
present,  I  twitched  the  officer,  to  whom  I  gave  my 
sword,  between  me  and  the  savage ;  but  he  flew  round 
with  great  fury,  trying  to  single  me  out  to  shoot  me 
without  killing  the  officer ;  but  by  this  time  I  was  nearly 
as  nimble  as  he,  keeping  the  officer  in  such  a  position 
that  his  danger  was  my  defence ;  but  in  less  than  half  a 
minute  I  was  attacked  by  just  such  another  imp  of  hell : 
Then  I  made  the  officer  fly  around  with  incredible 
velocity  for  a  few  seconds  of  time,  when  I  perceived  a 
Canadian  who  had  lost  one  eye,  as  appeared  afterwards, 
taking  my  part  against  the  savages,  and  in  an  instant  an 
Irishman  came  to  my  assistance  with  a  fixed  bayonet, 
and  drove  away  the  fiends,  swearing  by  Jesus  he  would 
kill  them."  1 

1  Ethan  Allen's  Narrative  (Philadelphia,  1779),  p.  n. 


[  218  ] 


X 

The   Private  Himself 

THE  Revolutionary  rank  and  file,  when 
their  uniforms  were  fresh,  were  a  pict 
ure  for  the  eye,  with  their  cocked  hats 
decked  with  sprigs  of  green,  their  hair  white 
with  flour,  their  fringed  hunting  shirts,  and  their 
leather  or  brown  duck  breeches.  Many  were 
boys;  some  at  the  opening  of  the  war  were  under 
sixteen,  with  the  virtues  and  vices  of  youth. 
They  were  eager  for  adventure,  and  every  strange 
sight  and  custom  made  its  impress  upon  them. 
In  the  Quebec  expedition  the  way-side  crosses 
and  the  chapel  interiors,  rich  in  color,  interested 
the  soldiers;  in  the  march  against  the  Six  Na 
tions,  Indian  superstitions  and  habits  of  life  were 
described  in  almost  every  diary,  and  in  the  south 
ern  colonies  the  peculiarity  of  slavery  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  men  from  the  north.  Through 
travel  and  contact  with  the  world  there  was  an 
opportunity  for  the  earnest  soldier  of  good  prin 
ciples  to  widen  his  horizon  and  broaden  his 
[  219  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

sympathies :  the  Yankee,  the  Dutchman,  and 
the  Southerner  came  to  know  more  of  one 
another. 

Some  of  those  who  could  write  kept  diaries. 
These  journals  have  many  references  to  the 
weird  and  the  unusual,  and  they  show  a  rough 
humor.  In  this  respect  they  reflect  the  taste  of 
the  time.  Privates,  even  those  who  rose  to  the 
commissioned  ranks,  spelled  many  words  by 
sound.  When  this  spelling  indicates  peculiari 
ties  in  pronunciation  it  gives  some  impression  of 
the  language  of  the  camp-fire.  David  How,  of 
Methuen,  was  a  private  of  the  Massachusetts  line, 
with  all  the  sharpness  and  oddities  that  charac 
terize  a  New  England  farmer.  In  his  diary  there 
is  a  consistency  of  error  which  amounts  to  a  dia 
lect.  He  always  wrote  ivhept  for  whipped,  and 
the  same  tendency  is  evident  in  the  use  of  splet 
meaning  split,  steant  for  stint,  and  a  pecking  up  for 
picking  up.  A  New  Englander,  therefore,  seems 
to  have  pronounced  short  /  as  though  it  had  the 
sound  of  e  in  get;  he  reversed  the  sounds  in 
words  which  properly  have  short  *,  saying  ridg- 
ment  for  regiment,  git  for  get,  wint  instead  of 
went,  lit  for  let,  etc.  Private  John  White,  also  a 
New  Englander,  used  a  for  e  and  i  so  persistently 
that  the  nasal  twang  is  very  evident,  as  in  his  use 
[  220  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


of  sarten  for   certain,  frants  for    prints,  lave  for 
leave,  sands  for  sends,  and  wall  for  well.1 

Privates  How  and  Fisher  treated  r  much  as  it 
is  treated  to-day  in  New  England.  They  wrote 
Salletoga  for  Saratoga,  Dodgster  for  Dorchester, 
soy  loin  for  sirloin,  yestoday  for  yesterday,  and  afte 
instead  of  after  ;  but  where  no  r  occurs  or  where 
it  is  not  emphasized  they  made  it  prominent,  by 
writing  for  teag  in  place  of  fatigue,  cateridges  for 
cartridges  (always),  arams  for  arms,  carter  for 
water,  and  carstle  for  castle.  Other  pronuncia 
tions,  as  valible  for  valuable,  b argon  for  bargain, 
jine  for  join,  and  jest  for  just  are  not  uncommon 
to-day.  "  Privateer  "  was  a  stumbling-block  that 
had  to  be  overcome  in  those  exciting  days,  and 
How  bravely  wrote  "  privitesters,"  and  "privite- 
teres  "  to  convey  his  meaning.  Phrases  now  un 
used  appear  in  diaries,  as  "lit  of,"  meaning  met, 
"  for  to  go  to  Boston,"  and  "  sase  money "  (an 
allowance  for  vegetables).  The  impression 
which  proper  names  made  upon  the  mind  of  a 
private  soldier  may  be  inferred  from  his  use  of 
Hushing  (Hessians),  Dullerway  (Delaware), 
Vinkearne  (Lincoln)  and  Markis  Delefiat  or 
Delefiatee.  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  how 
ever,  that  on  the  whole  the  English  language  as 
1  Parmenter's  Pelham,  Massachusetts,  p.  129. 
[  221  ] 


The  Private   Soldier   Under   Washington 

spoken  by  the  more  educated  colonists  was  purer 
than  the  speech  of  Englishmen  whose  lives  were 
confined  to  such  counties  as  Devon  and  York 
shire.1 

The  soldiers  had  their  own  designations  for 
their  enemies  and  friends ;  the  British  were  com 
monly  called  "  lobsters," 2  and  new  recruits  were, 
it  is  said,  spoken  of  as  "  the  long-faced  people."  3 

Keeping  a  diary  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  with 
no  table  to  write  upon,  poor  quills  and  thick  ink, 
and  hands  numb  with  cold,  or  stiff  from  guard 
duty,  was  an  achievement  which  must  command 
respect.  As  the  scratchy  pen  was  driven  slowly 
across  the  fibrous  paper  in  the  flickering  glare  of 
the  camp-fire,  the  writer,  with  brows  puckered  to 

1  See  Franklin's  Works  (Bigelow),  vol.  4,  p.  246. 

2  The  term  "  lobsters  "  is  said  to  have  been  applied  in  1643 
to    cuirassiers    on  account  of  their    bright    armor    (Notes    and 
Queries,    September   24,    1859,  P-    252)  5  ^ater  ^    was   Per~ 
haps  suggested  by  the  color  of  the  British  coats  {ibid.,  April  8, 
1876,  p.  286  ;  October  6,  1900,  p.  266  ;  December  29,  1900, 
p.  516). 

3  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  pp.  57,65,  80, 
etc.      This  interpretation  is  given   by  the  editor  of  the  diary. 
Mr.  Albert    Matthews  has  called  my  attention  to  the  following 
phrase    in   Moore's  Diary,    vol.    I,   p.    350:    "  We  intend   to 
push   on  after  the  long-faces  in  a  few  days."      This    seems  to 
refer  to  the  American  troops,  and  possibly  the  words  had  a  still 
more  specific  meaning. 

[   222    ] 


The  Private  Himself 


concentrate  his  thoughts  and  keep  from  his  mind 
a  babel  of  voices,  put  down  much  that  was  in 
structive  and  amusing.  To  one  the  Sunday  text 
was  worthy  of  note,  to  another  the  current  price 
of  shoes  or  the  details  of  an  execution  for  crime. 
Mr.  How  was  careful  to  record  deaths,  and  after 
each  name  a  heavy  black  line  completed  the 
entry  as  a  proper  mark  of  mourning.  Sam 
Haws,  of  Wrentham,  was  particular  about  the 
appearance  of  his  pages,  and  when  he  made  a 
blot  in  his  Journal  he  added :  "  o  you  nasty 
Sloven  how  your  Book  Looks." * 

Elijah  Fisher,  referred  to  above,  studied  dili 
gently  when  opportunity  offered.  His  diary,  in 
February,  1780,  states:  "I  stayes  [with  Mr. 
Wallis]  and  follows  my  Riting  and  sifering  the 
same  as  I  had  Dun  the  Evnings  before,  for  Every 
Evning  from  six  of  the  Clock  till  Nine  I  used  to 
follow  my  study."  Under  date  of  October  iyth 
this  quaint  note  appears  in  his  book  :  "  I  agreed 
with  Sarjt  Sm.  Whippels  to  stay  one  month  with 
him  after  my  time  was  out  and  so  do  his  Duty 
and  he  was  to  larn  me  to  Rite  and  sifer  and 
what  other  larning  would  be  eassy."  It  is  pleas 
ant  to  know  that  this  training  proved  of  value 
the  next  year,  when  the  absence  of  the  captain, 
1  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  82. 

[  223  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

one  lieutenant,  and  both  sergeants  for  a  time 
threw  much  of  the  care  of  the  company  upon  his 
shoulders.1 

The  retreat  from  Bunker  Hill  was  mortifying 
to  the  defeated  participants,  officers  as  well  as 
men,  who  found  fault  with  the  insufficient  pow 
der  and  reinforcements.  The  Americans  were 
on  a  peninsula  the  approach  to  which  could  be 
commanded  by  a  British  man-of-war.  They  did 
not  realize  that  longer  occupation  might  have  in 
duced  the  British  to  cut  off  their  line  of  escape 
and  starve  them  into  surrender.  A  quick  defeat 
for  which  the  enemy  paid  heavily  both  in  lives 
and  in  prestige  did  more  for  America  than  pos 
session  of  the  defences  on  the  hill  for  another 
night  could  possibly  have  done.  Until  a  soldier 
acquired  sufficient  education  to  fit  him  for  an 
officer's  commission  he  was  not  thrown  with 
men  who  heard  the  current  news  at  head-quar 
ters;  his  horizon,  therefore,  was  limited,  and  a 
battle,  far  reaching  in  its  influence  upon  events, 
meant  no  more  to  him  than  a  chance  en 
counter. 

A  private  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  igno 
rant  of  the  critical  state  of  the  patriot  cause  on 

1  E.  Fisher's  Journal,  p.   17. 


The  Private  Himself 


that  memorable  occasion,  states    the  facts  very 
quietly : 

27.  Our  army  on  long  Island   Have  ben  Engaged  in 
battle   With  the   Enimy   and   Killd  And  taken  a  good 
many  on  Both  sides. 

29.  This  night  our  army  on  long  Island  All  left  it  & 
Brought  all  their  Bagage  to  N.  York.1 

The  same  soldier  thus  described  the  battle  of 
Trenton : 

26.  This  morning  at  4  a  Clock  We  set  off  with  our 
Field  pieces  Marchd  8  miles  to  Trenton  Whare  we 
ware  Atacked  by  a  Number  of  Hushing  [Hessians]  & 
we  Toock  1000  of  them  besides  killed  Some  Then  we 
marchd  back  And  got  to  the  River  at  Night  And  got 
over  all  the  Hushing. 

28.  This  Day  we  have  ben  washing  Our  things.8 

The  writer  declined  to  heed  the  general's  en 
treaty  to  remain  in  service  for  six  weeks  longer, 
drew  his  wages  and  "  sase  money,"  and  marched 
for  home,  missing  by  two  days  the  famous  en 
gagement  at  Princeton.  The  soldier's  inability 
to  comprehend  the  state  of  affairs  at  critical  peri 
ods  may  account  often  for  a  seeming  lack  of  pa 
triotism,  as  in  the  case  just  cited,  but  on  the  other 
hand  his  ignorance  kept  his  heart  light.  Colonel 

1  David  How's  Diary,  p.  26.  *  Ibid.,  p.  41. 

[  225   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 


Cadwalader,  less  than  a  fortnight  before  the  battle 
of  Trenton,  closed  a  letter  to  Robert  Morris  by 
saying  that  he  had  been  led  into  a  complaining 

tone  "  by  the  d d  gloomy  countenances  seen 

wherever  I  go  except  among  the  soldiers."  1 

When  given  a  chance  the  privates  did  their 
share  of  thinking ;  in  the  execution  of  large  plans 
this  was  a  disadvantage,  since  the  machine-like 
corps  could  better  be  reckoned  with  than  the  body 
of  individuals.  In  1776  a  skirmish  took  place 
between  a  party  of  straggling  soldiers  and  some 
Hessians  who  held  a  rocky  eminence  between  the 
termination  of  Mount  Washington  and  King's 
Bridge.  Two  Pennsylvania  privates  advanced 
up  the  hill  and  opened  fire ;  they  were  soon  joined 
by  a  few  recruits,  who  soon  silenced  the  Hessian 
guns.  Seeing  this,  a  detachment  of  about  fifty 
of  the  enemy  set  off  to  aid  their  outposts.  By 
this  time  the  little  group  of  volunteers  numbered 
twenty  or  more ;  without  officers  to  conuslt,  they 
talked  over  the  matter  among  themselves,  and 
decided  to  form  into  three  divisions,  one  to  attack 
the  rocky  defences  of  the  enemy  and  two  to  circle 
the  position  in  order  to  fall  upon  it  in  the  rear 
or  to  meet  the  advancing  reinforcements.  The 
manoeuvre  was  entirely  successful,  for  the  outpost 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1231. 

226 


The  Private  Himself 


retreated  to  avoid  falling  into  the  trap,  and  the 
Americans  took  and  held  the  rocky  stronghold 
until  darkness  came  on.1 

In  any  large  number  of  men  some  there  are 
who  will  study  and  think  for  themselves,  ready  or 
preparing  to  influence  and  lead;  but  too  many 
are  indolent  and  heedless.  When  Mrs.  Esther 
Reed  in  1 780  offered  to  Washington  the  300,634 
paper  dollars  which  the  ladies  of  Philadelphia  had 
raised  for  the  army,  she  proposed  to  turn  this  sum 
into  specie  and  present  to  each  soldier  two  "  hard  " 
dollars.  The  Commander  replied  that  he  preferred 
a  shirt  for  each  man,  as  money  would  induce 
drinking  and  discord.2  The  payment  of  wages 
often  led  to  disorder,  as  intimated  by  a  private 
at  Cambridge  in  his  remark :  "  Peace  with  our 
enemy,  but  disturbance  enough  with  rum,  for  our 
men  got  money  yesterday." 3 

Rum  was  an  article  of  daily  consumption,  and 
its  evil  effects  must  have  balanced  whatever  of 
good  it  did.  It  was  drunk  "  to  the  health  and 
success  of  the  ladies,"4  to  celebrate  victories,  to 

1  American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  602. 

2  Life  of  Joseph  Reed,  vol.  2  (1847),  pp.  262-266. 

3  Aaron  Wright's   Revolutionary  Journal  ;  in  Historical  Mag 
azine,  July,  1862,  p.  210. 

4  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  57. 

[  227  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

encourage  enlisting,  by  fatigue  parties  to  counter 
act  the  strain  of  hard  work  in  bad  weather,  and 
even  more  liberally  when  there  was  no  object  in 
view ;  when  taken  early  in  the  morning,  unmixed 
with  water,  it  impaired  the  health  of  the  men ; 1 
and  in  long  marches  the  hard  drinker  was  most 
apt  to  suffer.2  At  the  siege  of  Boston  Sam  Haws, 
a  private,  experienced  the  not  unusual  effects  of 
merry-making.  "  We  turned  out,"  he  says,  "  and 
went  to  the  Larm  post  and  it  was  very  cold,  and 
we  came  home  and  there  was  a  high  go  of  Drink 
ing  Brandy,  and  several  of  the  company  were 
taken  not  well  prety  soon  after." 3  David  How 
tells  the  story  of  two  men  at  Cambridge  who  fell 
to  bantering  one  another  as  to  who  could  drink 
the  most.  This  led  to  excessive  drinking,  from 
which  one  of  the  men  died  in  an  hour  or  two.4 
Upon  another  occasion  John  Coleman  "  drinkt  3 
pints  of  cyder  at  one  draught," 5  a  feat  that  excited 
comment.  Jamec  McDaniel  was  so  eager  for  rum 
that  he  forged  an  order  to  obtain  it.6  To  check 

1  Colonel  Hutchinson's  Orderly  Book,  p.   15. 

2  Dr.  E.  Elmer's  Journal;  in  New  Jersey  Historical  Society 
Proceedings,  vol.  2  (1846),  p.  48. 

3  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  78. 
4D.  How's  Diary,  p.  5. 

5  Military  Journals,  p.  70. 

6  Colonel  William  Henshaw's  Orderly  Book,  p.  59. 

[  228  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


excessive  drinking,  spirits  were  allowed  to  be  sold 
in  one  place  only  within  the  limits  of  each  brigade, 
and  sutlers  were  sometimes  enjoined  from  selling 
after  the  retreat  had  been  sounded  at  sunset.1 

Hard  cider  was  much  used,  as  it  still  is  in  coun 
try  towns,  in  place  of  distilled  liquors.  The  story 
is  told  of  a  private,  then  not  over  sixteen  years  of 
age,  who  was  taunted  in  camp  with  being  home 
sick  until  he  lost  his  patience  and  attempted  to 
thrash  his  persecutor.  At  first  unsuccessful,  he 
called  for  quarter,  but,  receiving  none,  he  fought 
desperately  and  worsted  his  antagonist.  The  af 
fair  became  the  talk  of  the  company  and  reached 
the  ears  of  the  captain.  The  two  men — boys 
they  really  were — soon  came  up  before  their  com 
rades  to  receive  whatever  public  punishment  the 
captain  thought  meet.  Amid  silence  he  looked 
sternly  at  the  culprits,  angular  and  tall,  poorly 
clad  by  their  province,  and  as  poorly  fed,  youthful 
and  perhaps  a  little  frightened;  he  allowed  his 
eyes  to  rest  on  their  bronzed  faces,  for  he  knew 
them  well ;  then  in  the  hush  he  said,  "  You  are 
ordered  for  punishment  to  drink  together  a  mug 
of  cider."  After  the  first  instant's  astonishment 
the  laughter  that  followed  was  proof  that  the  cap 
tain  knew  the  failings  of  his  men. 

Jonathan  Burton's  Orderly  Book,  p.  13. 
[   229   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

Sensuality  is  not  often  mentioned  in  the  diaries 
or  letters  of  the  soldiers,  although  references  are 
not  wanting.  Stealing,  however,  was  not  un 
common.  Lieutenant  Burton  lost  his  "cotten" 
shirt  by  a  "  bold  Theefe  " ; 1  and  a  soldier  for 
stealing  a  cheese  was  whipped  thirty  lashes.2 
Samuel  Haws  has  related  how  in  the  camp  near 
Boston,  in  October,  1775,  a  "Rifle  man  [was] 
whipt  39  stripes  for  Stealing  and  afterwards  he 
was  Drummed  out  of  the  camps ;  if  the  infernal 
regions  had  ben  opened  and  cain  and  Judas  and 
Sam  Haws  had  been  present  their  could  not  have 
ben  a  biger  uproar." 8 

Swearing  was  a  habit  which  Washington  tried 
in  vain  to  check ;  the  coarse  language  of  many  of 
the  men  shocked  him  as  it  did  others.  A  clergy 
man,  referring  to  the  New  York  troops  who  were 
with  Arnold  in  1776,  remarked  that  "  it  would  be 
a  dreadful  hell  to  live  with  such  creatures  for 
ever."  4  But  to  suppose  that  there  was  no  strong 
religious  leaven  in  the  army  would  be  a  mistake. 
Corporal  Farnsworth,  of  Groton,  found  a  young 
soldier  with  whom  he  could  converse  freely  on 

Jonathan  Burton's  Orderly  Book,  p.  36. 
2  David  How's  Diary,  p.   12. 
8  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  76. 
4  Rev.  A.  R.  Robbins's  Journal,  p.   10. 
[   230  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


spiritual  things,  and  said,  with  a  grateful  heart : 
"  I  find  God  has  a  Remnant  in  this  Depraved  and 
Degenerated  and  gloomy  time." 1 

While  every  army  has  its  men  of  low  princi 
ples,  they  weigh  little  in  the  winning  or  losing  of 
campaigns  if  the  great  majority  are  efficient  and 
brave. 

The  Americans  as  a  pioneer  people  were  ac 
customed  to  danger,  and  they  were  familiar  with 
fire-arms.2  Men  might  be  relegated  to  the  "  awk 
ward  squad "  to  learn  manners,3  but  the  polish 
would  cover  a  stout  heart.  Sir  William  Johnson 
wrote  that  the  British  ministry  must  not  look 
upon  the  Americans  as  cowards  who  would  not 
fight ; 4  while  Anburey  commented  on  their  "  cour 
age  and  obstinacy ,"  which  had  already  astonished 
the  officers  under  Burgoyne.5  A  Continental  sol 
dier  who  had  been  at  Bunker  Hill  remarked  that 
he  would  to  God  that  his  people  had  as  good 
courage  in  the  spiritual  warfare  as  they  had  in  the 

1Amos  Farnsworth's  Diary  ;  in  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Proceedings,  January,  1898,  p.  85. 

2J.  Durand's  New  Materials,  p.  25  ;  American  Archives  V., 
vol.  3,  col.  1395. 

3  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  p.  6  ;  also  Military  Journals  of 
Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  54. 

4 Johnson's  Orderly  Book,  p.  49,  note. 

5T.  Anburey 's  Travels,  vol.   i,  p.  418. 

[  231  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

temporal.1  Not  to  multiply  statements,  the  testi 
mony  of  a  Tory  of  New  York  may  be  given  as 
final  evidence  of  reasonable  courage  shown  by  the 
American  troops ;  commenting  on  the  fighting  in 
New  Jersey  in  June,  1780,  he  remarked  of  the 
rebels  :  "  They  were  mostly  militia,  and  stood  and 
fought  better  than  ever  before." 2 

No  doubt  the  militia  accomplished  all  that  could 
be  fairly  expected  of  men  who  did  not  make 
war  a  profession.  They  were  subject  to  panic,  but 
fought  well  when  they  knew  the  land  and  the 
purpose  of  the  commander,  and  were  also  sure 
that  no  trap  awaited  them.  A  saying  in  the  army 
that  Gates  loved  the  militia  because  they  would 
never  bring  him  under  fire  is  a  commentary  on 
the  private  as  well  as  the  general.8  But  men  who 
were  familiar  with  militia  knew  what  to  expect. 
Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  of  New  Jersey,  speaking 
in  Congress  in  1776,  reminded  the  members  that 
at  the  battle  of  Preston  militia  ran  like  sheep ;  at 
Falkirk,  in  1746,  the  speaker  himself  saw  troops 

1  A.  Farnsworth's  Diary  ;  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
Proceedings,  January,  1898,  p.  87. 

2E.  G.  Schaukirk's  Diary;  in  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of 
History  and  Biography,  vol.  10,  p.  431. 

3E.  Hitchcock's  Diary  ;  in  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society- 
Publications,  January,  1900,  p.  224. 

[  232  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


"  behave  fifty  times  worse  "  than  the  Americans 
had  behaved  at  Long  Island. 

Washington  said  of  his  own  troops  in  1776: 
"  Place  them  behind  a  parapet,  a  breast- work, 
stone  wall,  or  any  thing  that  will  afford  them 
shelter,  and  from  their  knowledge  of  a  firelock, 
they  will  give  a  good  account  of  their  enemy; 
but  I  am  as  well  convinced,  as  if  I  had  seen 
it,  that  they  will  not  march  boldly  up  to  a 
work  nor  stand  exposed  in  a  plain."  x  A  few 
months  later  he  wrote :  "  Being  fully  persuaded 
that  it  would  be  presumption  to  draw  out  our 
young  troops  into  open  ground  against  their  su 
periors  both  in  number  and  discipline,  I  have 
never  spared  the  spade  and  pickaxe.  I  confess  I 
have  not  found  that  readiness  to  defend  even 
strong  posts  at  all  hazards,  which  is  necessary  to 
derive  the  greatest  benefits  from  them."2  Wash 
ington  wrote  these  words  after  the  battle  of  Long 
Island. 

Five  days  later  Lord  Percy  wrote :  "  The 
moment  the  Rebels  fired,  our  men  rushed  on 
them  with  their  Bayonets  &  never  gave  them 
time  to  load  again.  ...  I  think  I  may  vent 
ure  to  assert,  that  they  will  never  again  stand  be- 

1  Washington's  Writings  (Ford),  vol.  3,  p.  398. 
.,  vol.  4,  p.  392. 

[  233  1 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

fore  us  in  the  Field."  ]  Whether  this  was  due  to 
cowardice  or  inexperience  he  did  not  assert,  but 
Curwen,  the  loyalist,  held  to  the  view  that  the  in 
ability  of  untrained  troops  to  face  regulars  in  the 
open  was  no  proof  of  lack  of  bravery.2 

It  has  been  said  that  Washington's  strength  as 
a  commander  lay  in  his  readiness  to  learn  a  lesson 
from  experience.  He  discovered  very  soon  the 
value  of  earthworks,  and  persisted  in  their  use 
without  regard  to  expressions  of  disapproval 
from  European  officers.  In  Braddock's  campaign 
his  advice  to  seek  protection  behind  trees  had 
met  with  disfavor,  and  now  Lee  spoke  slightingly 
of  hastily  made  defences,  and  others  considered 
them  destructive  of  manliness  and  courage.  John 
Adams  represented  a  certain  public  impatience 
when  he  wrote  :  "  The  practice  we  have  hitherto 
been  in,  of  ditching  round  about  our  enemies,  will 
not  always  do.  We  must  learn  to  use  other 
weapons  than  the  pick  and  the  spade/'3 

The  motives  which  controlled   enlistment  are 

1  Percy's  Letters  ;  in  Boston  Public  Library  Bulletin,  January, 
1892,  pp.  325,  326. 

2American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.  1306.  Franklin  in  1769 
wrote  a  vigorous  defence  of  the  provincial  militia  in  answer  to 
a  taunting  article  in  No.  310  of  the  London  Chronicle.  See 
his  Works,  edited  by  Bigelow,  vol.  4,  p.  247. 

3 American  Archives  V.,  vol.  I,  col.   103. 

[  234  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


not  easily  defined  ;  patriotism,  adventure,  money, 
glory,  all  have  their  weight  in  determining  human 
action.  A  Frenchman  who  spent  a  year  in  Amer 
ica  reported  that  all  the  recruits  were  mercena 
ries,  led  by  a  few  patriotic  officers.1  So  general 
a  charge  needs  no  serious  answer,  but  it  may  be 
stated  as  self-evident  that  the  poorer  the  soldier 
of  any  rank,  the  more  dependent  he  will  be  upon 
the  compensation  which  he  receives  for  his  ser 
vices.  The  rank  and  file  were  no  doubt  more  in 
need  of  money  than  their  officers ;  when  it  did 
not  come,  even  in  the  form  of  paper,  they  muti 
nied  ;  their  officers,  fortunately,  could  resign.  The 
charge  could  not  have  been  true  in  1775;  later, 
as  it  became  evident  that  farmers  with  children 
to  be  supported  were  unable  to  remain  in  the 
army,  their  places  were  taken  by  young  men  who 
made  war  a  profession  and  expected  its  rewards. 

The  heads  of  families  soon  found  that  service 
in  the  army  meant  starvation  for  those  at  home. 
Through  the  demands  of  producers,  following  the 
example  set  by  avaricious  retailers,  the  price  of 
necessities  rose  beyond  the  reach  of  the  soldiers' 
wives.  Said  a  student  of  the  times :  "  At  this 
rate  what  will  become  of  thousands  of  people 
who  depended  on  their  absent  friends  in  the  army 
XJ.  Durand's  New  Materials,  p.  25. 

[  235  1 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

for  a  subsistence  ? "  Those  who,  having  no 
home  ties,  could  go  into  the  army  for  a  small 
bounty  and  moderate  wages,  were  carried  along 
by  the  tide ;  what  the  married  men  required,  the 
young  men,  seeing  their  opportunity,  were  led  to 
demand.1 

Claude  Blanchard  visited  the  army  under 
Washington  at  Peekskill  in  1781  ;  to  his  eye 
the  soldiers  marched  well  but  handled  their  arms 
badly.  "  There  were,"  he  relates,  "  some  fine- 
looking  men ;  also  many  who  were  small  and 
thin,  and  even  some  children  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  old.  They  have  no  uniforms,  and  in  gen 
eral  are  badly  clad."2  It  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  the  physical  condition  of  men  who 
had  clung  to  army  life  through  its  few  bright 
days,  and  its  many  days  of  privation,  when  one 
recalls  the  winter  at  Valley  Forge.  It  was  there 
that  James  Thacher,  while  walking  with  Wash 
ington  among  the  soldiers'  huts,  heard  voices 
echoing  through  the  open  crevices  between  the 
logs,  "  no  pay,  no  clothes,  no  provisions,  no  rum" ; 
and  the  few  who  flitted  from  hut  to  hut  were 
covered  only  with  dirty  and  ragged  blankets.3 

American  Archives  V.,  vol.  3,  col.   1176  (year  1776). 

2 Blanchard' s  Journal,  p.  115. 

3J.  Thacher's  Military  Journal,  p.   154. 

[  236] 


<r£  f.tr<.c.-L<^£ 


(ViY.    "* 


-^~  /l*1^    *£-,    !%*-      .fet<*-*tf      i-r-**?  n^t^tf^iy  .    _  -» 


^« 


^^t-t 


*- 
^Tf^r^ 


Celebration  of  New  Year's   Day. 

Page  from  Washington's  order  book,  Jan.  i,  1778. 


The  Private  Himself 


The  men  were  supposed  to  make  as  good  an 
appearance  on  guard  and  at  parade  as  was  possi 
ble.  They  were  ordered  to  have  their  beards 
close  shaved,  their  clothes  and  shoes  cleaned,1  and 
their  faces  and  hands  washed.2  When  an  event 
of  importance  occurred  the  men  powdered  their 
hair.  South  Carolina  troops,  in  1776,  were  in 
structed  to  have  their  hair  "properly  trimmed  up 
and  tyed  for  cap  wearing,  but  without  side  locks." 
Pay  for  the  barbers  was  obtained  by  stoppages 
from  the  wages  of  the  men.3  In  our  day  powder 
and  long  hair  seem  more  suited  to  a  ball-room 
than  a  battle-decimated  army.  The  convenience 
and  cleanliness  of  short  hair  did  not,  apparently, 
receive  the  serious  attention  of  commanding 
officers. 

Sullivan's  army,  3,000  strong,  returned  from 
the  Indian  country  in  tatters,  "  with  the  re 
maining  parts  of  their  garments  hanging  in 
streamers  behind  them,"  yet  they  had  sprigs  of 
evergreen  in  their  caps,  and  their  heads  were  as 
white  as  a  wagon-load  of  flour  could  make  them. 
The  incongruity  of  the  spectacle  convulsed  the 

1  A.  Lewis's  Orderly  Book,  pp.  8,  27. 
2 Jonathan  Burton's  Orderly  Book,  p.   17. 
3  Captain  Barnard   Elliott's  Diary  ;  in  Charleston  Year  Book, 
1889,  p.   188. 

[   237   ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

officers  and  moved  the   chaplain  "  to  forget  his 
gravity." * 

The  language  of  the  private  was  not  that  of  a 
mercenary.  Wright  of  the  New  Jersey  line  fre 
quently  referred  in  his  journal  to  the  Philistines, 
meaning  the  enemy,  and  commented  upon  the 
"  diabolical  rage  of  the  parliamentary  tools  on 
Bunker  Hill"  (then  held  by  the  British).2  An 
other  private,  a  Massachusetts  man,  referred  to 
"  the  wicked  enemy," 3  and  a  less  restrained  writer 
to  "  the  butchers  belonging  to  the  tyrant  of  Great 
Britain."4  Private  McCurtin,  of  Maryland,  re 
ferred  to  General  Gage  during  the  siege  of  Boston 
as  "  that  Crocodile  and  second  Pharoe,  namely 
Tom :  Gage." 5  Corporal  Farnsworth,  a  very  re 
ligious  man,  spoke  of  the  burning  of  Charlestown 
by  fct  that  infernal  Villain  Thomas  Gage,"  and  to 
the  possession  of  Boston  by  "our  Unnatteral 
enemyes." 6 

1  Nathan   Davis's  History;  in    Historical    Magazine,    April, 
1868,  p.  205. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  209. 

3  Military  Journals  of  Two  Private  Soldiers,  p.  66. 

4D.  McCurtin' s  Journal  ;  in  T.  Balch's  Papers  (1857), 
P-  33- 

5  Ibid.,  p.   17. 

6  A.  Farnsworth's  Diary  ;  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
Proceedings,  January,  1898,  pp.  84,  88. 

[  238  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


Plain  speaking  and  independence  of  thought 
were  characteristic  of  a  people  less  bound  by  class 
distinctions  and  therefore  less  accustomed  to  obey 
than  those  of  equal  educational  and  property  quali 
fications  in  the  Old  World.  These  traits  made 
their  impress  upon  events.  Said  Governor  Trum- 
bull :  "  The  pulse  of  a  New  England  man  beats 
high  for  liberty.  His  engagement  in  the  service 
he  thinks  purely  voluntary — therefore  in  his  esti 
mation,  when  the  time  of  his  enlistment  was  out, 
he  thinks  himself  not  holden,  without  further  en 
gagement."  !  This  feeling  accounts  for  a  serious 
reduction  of  the  army  besieging  Boston  in  the 
winter  of  1775-76;  as  company  after  company 
broke  camp  and  marched  away,  the  troops  hissed, 
showing  unmistakably  that  many  disapproved  of 
the  action.2  Personal  loyalty  sometimes  found  its 
expression  in  hand-to-hand  encounters  between 
the  ardent  patriots  in  the  army  and  those  whose 
zeal  was  open  to  question.  A  New  Englander,  it 
is  said,  felt  no  hesitation,  when  meeting  a  half 
hearted  Nova  Scotia  volunteer  (popularly  called 
a  Holy  Ghoster),  in  knocking  him  down  on 

1  Stuart's  Trumbull  (1859),  p.  224. 

2  Captain  Nathan  Hale  attributed  the  departure  of  volunteers 
to  a  scarcity  of  provisions.      In  any  case  the  men  took  affairs 
into  their  own  hands.      Ibid.,  p.  223. 

[  239  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

the  spot  without  pretext  or  preliminary  explana 
tion. 

The  following  picture  of  the  private  soldier, 
singing  as  he  suffered,  is  by  a  surgeon  at  Valley 
Forge;  he  studied  the  details  day  by  day, 
the  humorous  and  pathetic,  the  light  and  the 
shade : 

"  See  the  poor  Soldier,  when  in  health — with  what 
chearfullness  he  meets  his  foes  and  encounters  every 
hardship — if  barefoot — he  labours  thro'  the  Mud  &  Cold 
with  a  Song  in  his  mouth  extolling  War  &  Washing 
ton1 — if  his  food  be  bad — he  eats  it  notwithstanding 
with  seeming  content — blesses  God  for  a  good  Stom 
ach — and  whisles  it  into  digestion.  But  harkee  Pa 
tience — a  moment — There  comes  a  Soldier — His  bare 
feet  are  seen  thro'  his  worn  Shoes — his  legs  nearly  naked 
from  the  tatter'd  remains  of  an  only  pair  of  stockings — 
his  Breeches  not  sufficient  to  cover  his  Nakedness — his 
shirt  hanging  in  Strings — his  hair  dishevell'd — his  face 
meagre — his  whole  appearance  pictures  a  person  for 
saken  &  discouraged.  He  comes,  and  crys  with  an  air 
of  wretchedness  &  dispair — I  am  Sick — my  feet  lame — 
my  legs  are  sore — my  body  cover'd  with  this  tormenting 
Itch — my  cloaths  are  worn  out — my  Constitution  is 
broken — my  former  Activity  is  exhausted  by  fatigue — 
hunger  &  Cold — I  fail  fast  I  shall  soon  be  no  more ! 

1  Mitchel  Sewall's  ode,  the  only  one  mentioned,  as  far  as  I 
have  noticed,  in  the  diaries  here  cited  as  actually  sung  by  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  army. 

[   240  ] 


The  Private  Himself 


and  all  the  reward  I  shall  get  will  be — c  Poor  Will  is 
dead.'  " J 

There  was  another  side  to  the  war  picture. 
Enthusiasm  and  excitement  enabled  men,  bred  to 
a  city  life,  to  endure  exposure  in  the  dead  of 
winter  that  under  ordinary  circumstances  must 
have  proved  fatal.  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  has  called 
attention  to  the  apparent  effect  of  the  victory  at 
Trenton  in  1776  upon  some  1,500  Philadelphia 
militia.  During  a  period  of  five  weeks  or  more 
these  men,  unaccustomed  to  hardship,  slept  in 
barns  and  upon  the  bare  ground,  with  a  record  of 
only  two  cases  of  sickness  and  one  of  death.  The 
plain  living  and  comparatively  regular  hours  of 
camp  life  are  said  to  have  saved  some  men  from 
consumption  and  other  diseases ;  while  the  change 
of  environment  from  the  too  frequent  irritation 
and  pettiness  of  village  life  delivered  nervous  per 
sons  from  their  own  misfortunes  and  freshened 
their  minds.2 

Two  questions  arise  in  connection  with  the 
men  of  the  Revolution,  How  many  served  against 
Great  Britain?  and  What  became  of  the  survivors 

1  Dr.    A.   Waldo's   Diary  ;    in   Historical    Magazine,    May, 
1861,  p.  131. 

2  Dr.    Benjamin  Rush,  in  Massachusetts  Magazine  for  1791, 
pp.  284,  360. 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

after  the  war  had  closed  ?  General  Knox,  in  a 
report  to  Congress,  attempted  to  answer  the  first 
of  these,1  but  his  tables  are  hopelessly  confusing, 
since  they  are  based  upon  the  number  of  men 
to  be  enlisted  rather  than  upon  the  number  of  those 
who  engaged  themselves,  and  upon  records  of  the 
years  of  their  service  rather  than  upon  the  number 
of  men  performing  this  service.2  By  the  roughest 
kind  of  calculation  the  total  number  of  men  who 
served  as  Continentals  or  as  militiamen  during 
any  part  of  the  eight  years  of  the  war  must  have 
been  far  in  excess  of  232,000,  the  usual  estimate, 
based  upon  Knox's  tables.  Many  of  these  men 
died  of  wounds  or  disease,  and  many  more  re 
turned  to  their  homes  broken  in  health  and  with 
out  suitable  occupation.  The  names  of  officers 
and  privates  who  received  pensions  have  been  re 
corded  by  the  Government  from  time  to  time;  men 
tion  should  be  made,  first,  of  a  list,  giving  1,730 
pensioners  whose  names  were  on  the  rolls  June  i, 
i8i3;3  again,  of  another,  giving  about  16,000 

1  Knox's  Report ;    in  American  State  Papers,    Military  Af 
fairs,  vol.   I,  p.  14. 

2  Explained  in  Justin  Winsor's  paper;  in   Massachusetts  His 
torical  Society  Proceedings,  January,    1886,   p.  204.      For  an 
example  of  the  misleading  tables  see   Harper's  Book  of  Facts 
(New  York,   1895),  under  "Army,"  p.  47. 

3  Thirteenth  Congress,  First  Session  ;  Executive  reports,  letter 

[  242   ] 


Gray  cartridge  paper,  with  cartridges  and  ball,  found  in  the  attic 
of  the  church  at  Shirley  Centre,  Mass.,  by  J.  E.  L.  Hazcn  ;  also 
bullet  mould  and  melting  pot. 


The  Private  Himself 


names  in  1820;*  of  a  third,  three  thick  volumes2 
(a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  War  in  obedience 
to  resolves  of  the  Senate  of  June  5th  and  3Oth, 
1834,  and  March  3,  1835)  ;  and  of  a  fourth  list, 
a  thin  volume  which  appeared  in  1840.  Portraits 
of  several  aged  pensioners  may  be  seen  in  E.  B. 
Hillard's  work  on  "  The  Last  Men  of  the  Revo 
lution,"  and  one  of  Ralph  Farnham,  called  the 
last  survivor  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  will 
be  found  in  C.  W.  Clarence's  biographical  sketch 
of  him.  Samuel  Downing,  a  private  of  the  New 
Hampshire  line,  was  the  last  surviving  Revolu 
tionary  pensioner  under  the  general  acts  which 
placed  all  State  and  national  pensioners,  and 
finally  all  men  who  had  served  nine  months,  on 
the  rolls.  He  died  February  18,  1869,  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  seven.3  The  last  sur- 

from  Secretary  of  War.  Reprinted  in  Minnesota  Historical 
Society  Collections. 

1  Sixteenth  Congress,  First  Session,  House  Documents,  vol.  4, 
No.    55.      See   also    Twenty-first   Congress,    Second    Session, 
House  Documents,  vol.    2,  No.  31,  for  list  of  those  rejected, 
with    reasons;    and    vol.   3,   No.    86,   for  an    invalid    pension 
roll. 

2  Twenty-third   Congress,  First   Session,  Senate  Documents, 
vols.  12,  13,  14. 

3  Harper's  Book  of  Facts  (1895),  pp.  621,  682.      Down- 
ing's  kindly  face,  framed  in  snow-white   hair,  serves  as  a  fron 
tispiece  for  Mr.  Hillard's  book. 

[  243  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under  Washington 

vivor  placed  on  the  rolls  by  special  act  of  Con 
gress  was  Daniel  F.  Bakeman,  of  Cattaraugus 
County,  New  York,  who  died  April  5,  1869,  at 
the  age  of  one  hundred  and  nine.  As  late  as 
June  30,  1899,  four  widows  of  soldiers  of  the  war 
appeared  on  the  pension  rolls.1 

In  the  preceding  pages  officers  have  been 
quoted  as  authorities  on  the  rank  and  file.  It 
would  hardly  do  to  quote  seriously  the  opinions 
which  a  private  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
two  held  in  regard  to  his  superiors,  but  a  line 
from  Downing's  observations  on  each  of  the  great 
names  of  the  war  may,  nevertheless,  not  be  out  of 
place : 

Of  Arnold:  A  bloody  fellow  he  was.  He  didn't 
care  for  nothing ;  he'd  ride  right  in.  It  was  "  Come 
on,  boys  !  "  'twasn't  «  Go,  boys !  "  .  .  .  there 
wasn't  any  waste  timber  in  him.  He  was  a  stern  look 
ing  man  but  kind  to  his  soldiers.  They  didn't  treat 
him  right  .  .  .  but  he  ought  to  have  been  true. 

Of  Gates  :  Gates  was  an  "  old  granny  "  looking  fel 
low. 

Of  Washington :  Oh  !  but  you  never  got  a  smile  out 
of  him.  He  was  a  nice  man.  We  loved  him.  They'd 
sell  their  lives  for  him. 

1  World  Almanac,  1900,  p.  165. 
[  244  ] 


v 


The  Private  Himself 


Alexander  Milliner,  another  aged  pensioner, 
said : 

Of  Arnold :  Arnold  was  a  smart  man ;  they  didn't 
sarve  him  quite  straight. 

Of  Washington  :  He  was  a  good  man,  a  beautiful  man. 
He  was  always  pleasant  ;  never  changed  countenance, 
but  wore  the  same  in  defeat  and  retreat  as  in  victory. 

Pension  legislation  relating  to  the  Revolution 
was  summarized  by  the  Commissioner  in  his  re 
port  of  October  19,  1857.*  The  first  general  act 
(March  18,  1818)  was  for  the  benefit  of  officers 
and  men  in  need  of  assistance  who  had  served  in 
the  Continental  army  or  navy  to  the  close  of  the 
war  or  for  nine  consecutive  months,  and  allowed 
to  privates  $8  a  month ;  the  act  of  May  1 5, 
1828,  gave  to  privates  in  the  Continental  line  who 
had  served  to  the  close  of  the  war  the  amount  of 
their  full  pay,  whether  in  need  of  help  or  not ; 
the  act  of  June  7,  1 832,  gave  to  all  persons  who 
had  done  any  military  service  in  the  Revolution 
ary  War  for  six  months  a  fourth  of  full  pay,  with 
increase  varying  according  to  the  term  of  service 
up  to  two  years.  These  acts  were  followed  by 
what  were  known  as  "the  widows'  acts."  The 

1  Appended  to  Secretary  of  Interior's  Report:  Thirty-fifth 
Congress,  First  Session,  Senate  Documents,  vol.  2. 

[  245  ] 


The  Private  Soldier   Under   Washington 

total  expenditure  to  the  year  1 857  exceeded  $60,- 
000,000,  or  less  than  one-half  the  yearly  pension 
appropriation  now  made  on  account  of  later  wars. 
To  state  the  comparison  in  another  way,  the  Civil 
War  (the  chief  source  of  the  pension  roll)  in 
forty  years  has  cost  in  pensions  forty  times  what 
the  Revolutionary  War  cost  in  eighty  years.1  This 
is  a  commentary  on  the  growth  of  the  country 
from  1783  to  1865  in  population,  territory,  and 
wealth,  and  perhaps  also  on  an  increasing  willing 
ness  to  accept  public  aid. 

In  the  years  immediately  following  the  close  of 
the  war  the  veterans  too  often  were  obliged  to 
depend  wholly  or  in  part  upon  friends  or  chil 
dren  for  support ;  they  went  from  town  to  town, 
telling  their  stories  at  the  village  inn  or  by  the 
fireside  to  the  boys  and  girls  of  that  time,  who 
have  passed  them  on  to  our  own  day.  The 
hardest  misfortunes  came  in  the  summer  of  1 783. 
Elijah  Fisher's  experiences  are  recorded  in  his 
journal,  and  as  he  had  served  for  several  years  as 
a  private  soldier  they  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  pict 
ure  of  the  trials  of  the  less  fortunate  enlisted  men. 
He  left  the  "  old  Jarsey  preasen  ship  "  April  9, 
1783,  and  landed  in  New  York  City;  that  night 
he  slept  at  the  City  Hall  Tavern,  where  he  was 

1  World  Almanac  for  1900,  p.   164. 

[  246  ] 


'The  Private  Himself 


well  treated  and  provided  with  a  shirt.     He  con 
tinues  : 

"The  loth.  I  Leaves  Mr.  Franceps  and  so  goes 
about  the  City  to  se  it  and  went  into  Nombers  of  there 
shopes  and  would  say  your  servent  gentlefolks,  I  wish 
you  much  Joy  with  the  nuse  of  peace,  I  hope  it  will  be 
a  long  and  a  lasting  one,  some  of  them  would  be  Very 
well  pleased  with  it  and  would  wish  me  the  same  (and 
others  would  be  on  the  other  hand)  and  said  that  their 
surcomstances  poor  at  preasent  but  now  they  hoped  they 
would  be  better.  I  said  what  then  do  you  think  of  us 
poor  prisners  that  have  neither  Money  nor  frinds  and 
have  ben  long  absent  from  our  homes,  then  some  of 
of  them  would  pity  us  and  would  give  us  something, 
some  half  a  Dollar  some  a  quarter,  some  less,  some 
nothing  but  frowns." 

The  next  afternoon  Fisher  sailed  for  Boston ; 
he  arrived  in  due  time,  and  the  story  proceeds: 

"  The  1 4th.  I  Leaves  Mr.  Brimers  at  the  Planes. 
I  gos  through  Brookline  and  in  to  old  Cambridge,  from 
there  to  the  Tenhills  and  then  to  Charleston,  and  then 
Cross  the  farray  in  to  Boston,  but  there  was  so  meny 
that  Come  from  the  army  and  from  see  that  had  no 
homes  that  would  work  for  little  or  nothing  but  there 
vitels  that  I  Could  not  find  any  Employment,  so  stays  in 
Boston  till  the  seventeenth  ;  in  the  meenwhile  one  Day 
after  I  had  ben  Inquiring  and  had  ben  on  bord  severel 
of  there  Vesels  but  could  git  into  no  bisnes  neither  by 
see  nor  Land, 

[  247  ] 


The  Private   Soldier   Under  Washington 

"  The  1 6th.  I  Com  Down  by  the  markett  and  sits 
Down  all  alone,  allmost  Descureged,  and  begun  to  think 
over  how  that  I  had  ben  in  the  army,  what  ill  success 
I  had  met  with  there  and  all  so  how  I  was  ronged  by 
them  I  worked  for  at  home,  and  lost  all  last  winter,  and 
now  that  I  could  not  get  into  any  besness  and  no  home, 
which  you  may  well  think  how  I  felt ;  but  then  Come 
into  my  mind  that  there  ware  thousands  in  wors  sircum- 
stances  then  I  was,  and  having  food  and  rament  [I 
ought  to]  be  Content,  and  that  I  had  nothing  to  reflect 
on  myself,  and  I  [resolved]  to  do  my  endever  and  leave 
the  avent  to  Provedance,  and  after  that  I  felt  as  con 
tented  as  need  to  be."1 

With  this  quaint  narrative  of  the  troubles  that 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Revolutionary  veteran  and 
the  consolations  that  were  his  also,  this  record  of 
the  private  soldier  closes.  He  was  a  humble  in 
strument  in  a  great  cause ;  he  profited  by  an 
opportunity  that  does  not  come  in  every  genera 
tion.  Whether  France  or  Washington  or  the 
patriot  army  contributed  most  to  bring  about  the 
peace  of  Paris  in  1783  is  of  little  moment. 
France  and  Washington  long  ago  had  their  due ; 
it  has  been  the  purpose  of  these  pages  to  give  the 
private  soldier  under  Washington  whatever  share 
in  the  victory  was  his  by  right  of  the  danger, 
privation,  and  toil  that  he  endured. 

1  Elijah  Fisher's  Journal,  pp.  23,  24.      Punctuation  added. 

[  248  ] 


INDEX 


INDEX 

ACCIDENTS  with  firearms,  112-113 

Air  purified  in  hospitals,  178 

Alarm-list  companies,  8 

Allen,  Ethan,  adventure  with  an  Indian,  218 

Amusements,  168 

Army,  origin  of,   3  et  seq.;  taken  over  by  Congress,  19.      See  also 

Continental  army 
Army  life,  241 
Arnold,  Benedict,  account  of  the  Continental  army  in  1780,  67;  as 

seen  by  privates,  244-245 
Artisans,  154 

"Assembly,"  in  military  music,  196 
Authority,  fear  of  officers  to  exercise,  131 
Avarice  of  soldiers,  41 
Awkward  squad,  34,  231 

BAKING  and  bakers,  86-87 

Ball,  allowance  of,  116;   wind  from  a  ball,  151 

Barbarities,  199 

Barter  in  camp,  156 

Battles  as  seen  by  the  private,  224-225 

Beggars  disappear  in  war  time,  37 

Bibles  for  soldiers,  159 

Blue,  adopted  for  uniforms,  95 

Blue  and  buff,  91,  96 

Bombardiers,  51 

Bounties,  in  1776,  44,  48-50;   re-enlisting  for,  53  ;   after  Trenton,  55; 

in  1778  and  1779,  59-61 

Bows  and  arrows  advocated  by  Franklin,  112 
Brandy  wine  celebration,  1 68 
Bravery,  40 

Bunker  Hill,  the  battle,  as  seen  by  the  private,  224 ;   last  survivor,  243 
Burgoyne's  surrender,  anniversary  of,  166 


Index 

CAMP  at  Cambridge  in  1775,  74;  at  Valley  Forge,  76;  at  White- 
marsh,  77 

Camp  diversions,  16$  et  seg. 

Camp  duties,  143  et  seq. 

Cartridges,  121 

Clothing,  89  et  seq.  ;  color,  93  ;  in  summer,  95  ;  for  Canada  expedi 
tion,  98;  scarcity  in  1777,  100  ;  in  France  and  West  Indies,  102 

Coast  guard,  20 

Colonies  in  1775,  3;   population,  5;    in  1781,  69 

Commissariat,  184 

Committee  of  inquiry,  account  of,  42 

Committee  of  safety,  powers  of,  7 

Committees  of  correspondence  formed,  16 

Concord,  stores  at,  10 

Congress,  weakness  of,  in  1780,  66 

Continental  army,  Howe  on,  14;  Percy's  opinion,  14;  in  July,  1775, 
19;  old  and  new- establishment,  27;  in  Septembe*,  1775,  43; 
increased  after  battle  of  Long  Island,  48-51  ;  size  in  December, 
1776,  54;  in  1777,  55;  in  1778,  58;  in  1779,  62;  in  1780,  65; 
described  by  Arnold,  66-67;  m  1781,  67-68;  in  1782,  70;  con 
dition  in  1777,  100-101  ;  in  motion,  194;  day's  march,  195; 
number  engaged,  241-242 

Cooking,  78  ;   need  of  wood,  86  ;  inspection,  86 

Coronation  day,  165 

Countersign,  145 

Courage  of  privates,  231-232 

Cowardice  of  some  officers,  135 

Crimes  of  privates,  230 

Crops,  unharvested,  47 

Cruelty  suppressed,  209 

DAY'S  march,  195 

Death  penalty,  170-171 

Deer  in  camp,  200 

Democracy  and  discipline,  128-131 

Desertion,   one   cause   of,   48 ;    to   re-enlist   for  bounties,  53 ;    to  get 

clothes,  54  ;   chiefly  those  of  foreign  birth,  58  ;  of  a  sentinel,  148  ; 

excessive,  172;   caused  by  homesickness,  18 1 
Diaries,  222 
Discipline,  127-130;   at  the  South,  130;    lack  of,  136 

[252] 


Index 

Disease,  I77»  variety  of,  182 

Dishonesty  of  officers,  135 

Dogs,  eaten,  84 

Draft,  fine  imposed  for  refusing,  50,  62 

Drinking,  excessive,  228-229 

Driver  or  snapper,  120 

Dunmore,  Lord,  his  proclamation  freeing  servants  and  slaves,  22 

EARTH-WORKS.     See  Field-works 

Enlistment,  term  of,  28-33  '»  checked,  34 ;  influences  to,  39 ;  ex 
cessive,  46,  47 ;  those  exempt,  50 ;  short  term  of,  62 ;  motives 
controlling,  234-235 

Epithets,  222,  238 

Establishment,  old,  27 

Exchange  of  prisoners,  192-193 

FIELD-WORKS,  152,  233;  Adams's  opinion,  234 

Firearms,  scarcity  of,  113-114;  imported,  115;  old-time,  119;  acci 
dents  in  using,  112-113 

Firelock,  and  powder,  105  et  seq.;  weakness  of  firelock,  108,  in  ; 
loading,  108,  no 

Firing,  122-123 

Fisher,  Elijah,  his  experiences  at  the  close  of  the  war,  246-248 

Flag  of  truce  fired  upon,  149 

Flintlock.     See  Firelock 

Flints,  119-120;   life  of,  120 

Food,  how  obtained,  89.     See  also  Ration 

Food,  price  of,  34-36 

Foraging,  209 

Foreigners  as  deserters,  58 

Fourth  of  July,  165 

Freneau,  Philip,  in  a  prison-ship,  188 

Fudg  fairyouwell  my  friends,  168 

GANO,  Rev.  John,  159-161 

Gantlet,  175 

Gates,  Horatio,  as  seen  by  a  private,  244 

"General,"  in  military  music,  196 

George  III.,  statue  of  lead,  115 

Goddard,  John,  carries  stores  to  Concord,  10 

Grass  guard,  151 

[253] 


Index 

Green,  John  Richard,  his  opinion  of  Washington,  71 
Guard  duty,  145-151 
Gun-factories,  107 
Gunsmiths,  115 

HAIR,  how  dressed,  237 

Handbills,  163 

Hardships,  35,  47;  at  Ticonderoga,  51  ;  at  Peekskill,  99;  on  guard, 
147;  in  prisons,  184;  unreliable  reports  of,  185;  on  Quebec 
expedition,  202  ;  in  storms,  206  ;  at  Valley  Forge,  240 ;  effect  on 
health,  241 ;  at  the  close  of  the  war,  246-248 

Health  improved  by  army  life,  241 

Holidays,  164-167 

Homesickness,  181 

Hospitals,  177-186;   British,  184 

Hunter,  hospital-ship,  188 

Hunting  shirt,  91 

Huts  at  Cambridge  and  Valley  Forge,  74-76 

ILLNESS,  cause  of,  182;  effect  on  enlistments,  183 

Improvident  soldiers,  85 

Independence  of  thought,  239 

Indian  allies,  215 

Indian  country  seen  in  Sullivan's  expedition,  196-200 

Industries  quickened,  97 

Ineffective  number,  54,  58 

JERSEY,  prison-ship,  187 
KING'S  birthday,  164 

LAURENS,  JOHN,  desires  to  enlist  negroes,  23 

Lead,  how  obtained,  115 

Lee,  Charles,  on  the  privates,  133 

Leggings,  93 

Lexington,  battle  of,  10-12;  events  after  the  battle,  13;  carrying  the 

news,  16-18 
"  Lobsters,"  222 
Long-faces,  222 

MANUAL  of  exercise,  108-111 
Marching,  19$  et  seq . 

[254] 


Index 

Market  in  camp,  81 

Marksmanship,  123;   why  ridiculed,  137 

Material  needs,  73  et  seq. 

Matrosses,  51 

May  day,  observance  of,  167 

Meat,  harmful  without  vegetables,  84 ;  to  be  boiled,  not  fried,  86 ;  in 

1777-78,  87 

Medicine  recommended,  180 
Merit,  signs  of,  96 

Military  stores  in  Massachusetts  in  1775,  105 
Militia,  organized  in  1774,  8  ;   frequent  use  of,  32  ;   and  regulars,  122  ; 

as  soldiers,  232 ;  Washington's  opinion  of,  233 
Milk,  8 1,  82 
Minutemen,  8 

Money,  effect  on  the  privates,  227 
Musicians  and  music,  155-156 
Musket,  form  recommended,  107 ;  value  of,  107 
Mutiny,  of  Pennsylvania  line,  137-141  ;   at  Yorktown,  141 

NEGROES,  in  the  colonies,  5  ;  status  in  the  army,  20-24 
Neutrals  in  the  South,  212 
News,  effect  of,  163 
Norfolk  discipline,  109 

OATH  in  1775,  26 

Occupations  in  camp,  152,  156 

Officers,  and  privates,  125  et  seq.;  as  barbers,  128;  distinction  in 
pay,  130;  some  inferior,  132;  at  Bunker  Hill,  132;  Charles 
Lee's  opinion  of,  134;  Greene's  views,  134;  resign  at  Valley 
Forge,  135  ;  dishonest,  135 ;  as  seen  by  privates,  244-245 

Old  countrymen,  148 

Osnaburgs,  97 

Overalls,  94 

PANIC,  206,  232 

Parade,  237 

Parole  and  countersign,  145 

Pay  of  officer  and  private,  130 

Pennsylvania  line,  mutiny  of,  137-141 

Pension  legislation,  245 

[255] 


Index 

Pensioners,  242 

Percy,  Earl,  his  opinion  of  the  militia,  9,  233 

Physical  condition  of  privates,  236 

Pickering,  Timothy,  his  Easy  Plan,  109-110 

Pickets,  144-151;  to  be  native  born,  148;   cruelly  treated,  149-150 

Pikes,  advocated  by  Franklin,  112 

Plundering,  208-210 

Powder,  and  its  production,  116-119 

Powder-horns,  121 

Preparation  for  war,  7-10 

Prices,  advance  of,  34,  35 ;  and  enlistment,  235 

Prisoners,  not  to  be  enlisted,  39  ;  treatment  of,  by  England,  191 ; 
how  to  get  free,  192 ;  effect  of  exchange,  192 

Prisons  in  England,  189-191 

Prison-ships,  186  et  seq. ;  to  be  described  for  children  by  Franklin, 
189 

Private  property,  protection  of,  208 

Private  soldier,  attitude  toward  his  company,  25  ;  could  not  be  ar 
rested  for  debt,  28;  bravery,  40;  as  seen  by  those  in  command, 
125-126;  and  company  officers,  127-131;  Charles  Lee's  opin 
ion,  133;  language  and  education,  219  etseq.;  his  horizon  lim 
ited,  224 

Privateering,  rage  for,  45 ;   sometimes  a  benefit,  46 

Prosperity  in  war  time,  36 

Protection  for  militia,  233 

Provisions,  prices  of,  82;   for  30,000  men,  88 

Punishments,  169-176;   by  whom  inflicted,  174 

Putnam,  Colonel,  129 

QUARTER-GUARDS,  121 

Quebec  expedition,  scarcity  of  meat,  84 ;  hardships,  202 

RANK,  129-131 

Ration,  June,  1775,  78;   in  August,  1775,  79;   in  1778,  80;   in  1898, 

80;  value,  8 1 
Recruiting  officers,  37 

Recruits,  training  of,  33 ;   obtaining,  38,  62,  63 
Religious  interest,  230 
Religious  life,  158-162 
Rhode  Island  troops,  ragged,  99 

[256] 


Index 

Rifle  dress,  91-92 

Riflemen,  companies  raised,  19 

Rounds  carried,  121 

Rum,  for  illness,  177  ;  bad  effect  of,  227 

Running  ball,  116 

Rush,  Dr.  Benjamin,  on  the  birth-rate,  36;   on  army  life,  241 

Rutledge,  John,  order  to  protect  privates,  142 

ST.  PATRICK'S  day,  observance  of,  167 

Saltpetre,  117-119 

Scalping,  216-217 

Shaving,  143  ;   of  private  by  an  officer,  128 

Shells  in  camp,  169 

Shoes  cut  to  pieces  by  roads,  205 

"Sixty-fourth,"  no 

Slaves  in  the  army,  20-24 

Small-pox,  effect  of,  182 

Smith,  Francis,  at  Lexington,  10 

Snapper  or  driver,  120 

Spears,  advocated,  112 

Speech  of  the  private,  220-222 

Steuben,  Baron,  33,  34;   his  manual,  in 

Stones,  boiled,  85 

Suffolk  county  convention,  6 

Sullivan,  John,  expedition  against  the  Six  Nations,  64,  196-200 

Sunday  services,  158-162 

Survivors,  last,  243 ;  hardships,  246-248 

Suttling  booth,  81 

Swearing,  230 

TENTS  in  1775,  74 

Theft,  210 

Thrift,  156 

Ticklenburgs,  97 

Ticonderoga,  hardships  at,  51 

Tories,  treatment  of,  by  soldiers,  21 1 ;  by  British,  212;   in  England, 

213;   at  Bennington,  214 
Trades  in  camp,  156 
Training  recruits,  33 
"Troop,"  military  music,  196 


Index 


Trousers  or  overalls,  94 
Two  months'  walk.  62 


UNIFORMS;  89  et  seq.  ;  in  1779,  96;   red  refused  by  troops,  103 

VALLEY  FORGE  as  a  camp,  75-77 

Vegetables,  scarcity,  82 ;   in  Sullivan's  expedition,  82 ;   need  of,  83 

Veterans,  life  of,  246-248 

Vinegar,  83-84 

WAGON-MASTER,  129 

Waldo,  Dr.  A.,  describes  the  private,  240 

War,  burdens  of,  37 

Washington,  George,  his  opinion  of  New  England  troops,  41  ;  de 
scribed  by  J.  R.  Green,  71  ;  advice  for  firing,  122  ;  and  the  pri 
vate,  125  ;  story  of  his  throwing  a  stone,  208  ;  and  militia,  233  ; 
as  seen  by  privates,  244-245 

Watch  coats,  95 

Weaving,  97 

WThipping,  170;  number  of  lashes,  174 

Whitemarsh,  camp  at,  77 

Wind  from  a  ball,  151 

Wives  and  children  of  soldiers,  35 

Wood,  need  of,  for  cooking,  86 

Wooden  horse,  176 


[258] 


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